Showing Off

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree that lucirse is a universal expression for "to show off" (the context will tell the intention positive/negative, literal/sarcastic).

·Se lució tocando el piano.
·Los dueños de la casa quisieron lucirse con una cena de lujo.
·Yo trataba de lucirme con mi trabajo y resulta que todo estaba mal.


In Mexico "presumir" is the most common verb for it.

·María vino a presumirme su coche nuevo.
·Pedro sigue presumiendo que le dieron un aumento de sueldo.
·No vengas a presumir tu diploma.


"Ostentar" may be fine, depending on the situation. For example, for someone showing off luxury items like jewelry; or when someone displays insistingly their academic titles...

·Juan se ostenta como Doctor en Economía. (He can have or not the title.)
·La actriz ostentaba unas joyas de miles de dólares.
·No me ostento como funcionario cuando no estoy en mi oficina.


"Jactarse" is a close synonym of "ostentar", although it's more often used to talk about someone who claims something that is not true or turns out not to be what one expected.

·Juan se jacta de ser Doctor. (He may not have the title, but perhaps he does and he's just noisy about it.)
·Nos jactábamos de ser los únicos que podíamos entrar al club, pero ahora dejan entrar a todo el mundo.
·Me jactaba de que mi coche nunca se descomponía, hasta que se apagó en medio de la avenida.

[chileno]

...or jactarse. Ostentar isn't necessarily negative, and I suspect jactar is.
Both have both connotations...

Now:

showoff - ostentar

boast = jactar

[Glen]

How about "apantallar" in this context? Is it closer to simply "impress" than "show off?" I heard it in the Cantinflas film El Padrecito when he used a word that was unfamiliar to his listeners.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Apantallar" is a very colloquial expression and I think it's only Mexican. But you're right, it's rather close to "impress".

While the previous words judge the intention of the person's behaviour, "apantallar" rather focuses on the effect that person caused on the other people. It's mostly used when the person manages to impress someone with something that isn't true, but also can be that the other people get impressed by something they didn't expect from him/her.

·Dijo cosas que aprendió en el Discovery Channel y los apantalló con que sabía mucho.
He said things he learnt on Discovery Channel and he made them believe he knew much. -> He actually knows nothing, but parrots shallow documentaries.

·Me apantallaste con tu reloj nuevo; no parece pirata.
You impressed me with your new watch; it doesn't look fake.

·Juan nos apantalló a todos con su presentación; no parecía ser tan experto.
Juan impressed us all with his presentation; he didn't seem to be such an expert. -> we didn't expect he knew so much.

·Llegué a la fiesta con el coche de mi jefe y los apantallé a todos.
I came to the party with my boss' car and I impressed them all. -> They thought the car was mine or they didn't expect me arriving with a luxurious car.

[aleCcowaN]

"Lucirte" is good and pretty neutral, but I think it all depends on what is exactly the way of 'showing off', as it could be "deja de lucirte", "deja de fanfarronear", "presumir", "alardear", "deja de pavonearte", "hacer ostentación", etc. or simply the colloquial "deja/déjate de (querer/tratar de) impresionar"