grandstanding

plural grandstandings

1. uncountableusuallyDramatic or showy behavior intended to impress an audience or observers.

   For all his faults and grandstanding, however, Prescott genuinely cared - and his ambitious plans for tram schemes and railway extensions were stymied by lack of support from Downing Street.

   2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60

   2 more examples

   Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer.

   2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)

   "We are tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding," Klobuchar said in a speech to supporters. "Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right."

   2019 February 10, Elena Schneider, "Klobuchar jumps into presidential race"

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of grandstand