ostentation

\ɔs.tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃\

/\ɔs.tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“ostentation” is uncommon French (frequency #56,802 among 1,642 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,802
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Affectation de montrer des qualités ou des avantages dont on veut faire parade.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ostentation · ostentation · French

ostentation · rank #56,802 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,802
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH ory

Nearest frequency peer: ory (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « ostentation »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « ostentation » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ostentation
PropertyValue
Headwordostentation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔs.tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃\
Letters11
Frequency rank#56,802
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « ostentation » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).ostentationtombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Voisins rares de la même bande: « ory » (#56,801), « Ouistreham » (#56,804), « ordonnez » (#56,799). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « ostentation » est au #56,802. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ostentation is uncommon French at frequency #56,802 among 1,642 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ɔs.tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Affectation de montrer des qualités ou des avantages dont on veut faire parade.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ostentation, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is ostentation, spelled O-S-T-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Affectation de montrer des qualités ou des avantages dont on veut faire parade.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ostentation appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Notre monde n’est formé qu’à l'ostentation : les hommes ne s'enflent que de vent ….
  2. Son ostentation est doublée de générosité. Les résultats profitent à la société, les motifs regardent Dieu.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ostentation"?
"ostentation" is spelled O-S-T-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔs.tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃\.
What does "ostentation" mean?
As a noun, "ostentation" means: Affectation de montrer des qualités ou des avantages dont on veut faire parade.
How do you pronounce "ostentation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ostentation" is \ɔs.tɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ostentation" come from?
"ostentation" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ostentation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list