Meaning & use
glorious
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Very beautiful, delightful or wonderful to experience.
Grammar: Works before a noun or after a linking verb: a glorious day, the weather was glorious.
Patterns
- a glorious day
- glorious weather
We spent a glorious afternoon on the beach.
The garden looked glorious in the spring light.
It was a glorious morning, with blue sky from edge to edge.
adjectivecomparable
Bringing great honor, fame and admiration, as with a major victory or career.
Grammar: Often describes history, victories and careers: a glorious past.
Patterns
- a glorious victory
- a glorious career
The team enjoyed a glorious victory in the final.
The old general looked back on his glorious career.
The city remembers its glorious past with a yearly parade.
adjectivebefore a nounhumorous
Used humorously to describe something as very bad or complete, as in a glorious mess.
Grammar: Used ironically: a glorious failure.
Patterns
- a glorious mess
- a glorious failure
The kitchen was a glorious mess after the baking contest.
Their first attempt was a glorious failure, but they laughed about it.
Word forms
| comparative | more glorious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most glorious |
Common combinations
- glorious sunshine
- We woke to glorious sunshine.
- glorious victory
- It was a glorious victory for the home side.
- glorious past
- The theater has a glorious past.
- glorious day
- What a glorious day for a picnic!
- glorious mess
- The children made a glorious mess with the paint.
Synonyms and how they differ
- splendid
- Splendid is slightly more old-fashioned and suggests excellent quality or grandness.
- magnificent
- Magnificent stresses grand size and impressiveness, while glorious adds joy or honor.
- wonderful
- Wonderful is a casual, everyday word, whereas glorious sounds more vivid and elevated.
- illustrious
- Illustrious is formal and applies only to people or careers that are famous and respected.
Opposites
Word family
- glory noun
- great honor, fame or beauty
- gloriously adverb
- in a wonderful or honorable way
- gloriousness noun
- the quality of being glorious
- glorify verb
- to praise or make something seem greater than it is
- inglorious adjective
- not bringing honor or praise
Commonly confused: glorious or glorified?
glorious vs glorified
Glorified means made to seem better than it is, as in a glorified secretary; glorious means wonderful or honorable.
Practice
Which sentence uses glorious to mean wonderful?
Choose one answer.
Glorious weather means beautiful, pleasant weather. The others use the word ironically about something negative.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “glorious”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.