bravado

His intellectual bravado has always attracted disciples and acolytes, notably his cultlike following at Cambridge, where he taught in the 1930s and ’40s.

This bit of bravado quickly falters when MacGruber finds his name on nearly every page.

For all that bravado, though, Wang was unable to keep pace with rivals such as Apple and Dell, which provided ever-improving word processors and a whole lot more.

Mr. Clooney has never had a better role, and he burrows deeply into it with a self-interrogating combination of narcissism, foolishness, bravado and charisma.

His confession strips away any rock-star bravado as he admits that he's "quite terrified of women and their power and I've just never been that comfortable around them".