inglorious
Americanadjective
-
shameful; disgraceful.
inglorious retreat.
- Synonyms:
- dishonorable
- Antonyms:
- praiseworthy, admirable
-
not famous or honored.
adjective
-
without courage or glory; dishonourable, shameful, or disgraceful
-
unknown or obscure
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inglorious
From the Latin word inglōrius, dating back to 1565–75. See in- 3, glorious
Explanation
Something inglorious is shameful or disgraceful. An inglorious end to a politician's career might include evidence that he bought people's votes and lied about his educational background. You could call World War II a generally inglorious period in Germany's history, or talk about a southern US city with an inglorious record of bias against African Americans. And if your favorite basketball team loses every game, they have an inglorious season. Inglorious adds the "not" prefix in- to glorious, from its Latin root gloriosus, "full of glory" or "famous."
Vocabulary lists containing inglorious
Unit 1: Telling Details
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"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Inglorious Batters wore blue T-shirts with their logo in the front and ironed-on numbers and last names on the back.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2023
As first noticed by TrekCore, Matalas recently appeared on the Inglorious Treksperts podcast and had a lot to say about the final season of the show.
From The Verge • Jun. 20, 2022
Weinstein has long been a patron of Tarantino, distributing the director’s breakout hit Reservoir Dogs and producing all of his films since, including Django Unchained and Inglorious Basterds.
From The Guardian • Oct. 13, 2017
Another movie, Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 “Inglourious Basterds,” also inspires a program, “The Real Inglorious Bastards,” on Tuesday night on the American Heroes Channel.
From New York Times • Nov. 7, 2014
Let not the sun look down, and say, "Inglorious, here he lies!"
From An English Garner Critical Essays & Literary Fragments by Arber, Thomas Seccombe, Professor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
