gloat
Americanverb (used without object)
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gloats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gloated,
past participle, past
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gloating
present participle
noun
-
gloats
plural
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
See glare 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gloatsimple
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gloatssimple
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have gloatedperfect
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has gloatedperfect
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am gloatingprogressive
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are gloatingprogressive
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is gloatingprogressive
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have been gloatingperfect progressive
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has been gloatingperfect progressive
Past
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gloatedsimple
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had gloatedperfect
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was gloatingprogressive
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were gloatingprogressive
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had been gloatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gloat
1565–75; perhaps akin to Old Norse glotta “to smile scornfully”; compare German glotzen “to stare”
Explanation
If you gloat, you express great satisfaction at the misfortune of others. If your team scores a big win, it would be better not to gloat. Be happy for your win, but don't laugh at the other team's loss. Gloat seems have come from a Germanic word meaning "to stare." Somehow people may have gotten the sense that whoever was doing the staring was also taking a deep and unwholesome pleasure in whatever he or she was seeing. Think about people staring and pointing and laughing. Sometimes you gloat when someone has rejected the help you have offered. If your little sister won't listen to your advice on how to improve her essay and then comes home with a bad grade, it will be very hard not to gloat and say "I told you so."
Vocabulary lists containing gloat
"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
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"The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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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.
See Examples For:
Similarly, in “Spirited Away,” when Chihiro finally wins freedom for herself and her parents, she doesn’t gloat at Yubaba but affectionately calls her “granny” as she leaves.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
If it outperforms in the year ahead, I’ll gloat.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
A woman who lost her home at the start of the year due to coastal erosion has warned visitors to "stay away and don't gloat".
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
Loomer, known for her influence over the president, used the moment to gloat about being correct.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2025
And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Dr. Fauci gloats to himself about his working relationship with Mr. Trump until late in the spring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
“He even gloats, ‘The gods are shining on me today,’ little knowing that he is as out of his depth as River was and is about to meet his demise,” writes Smith in an email.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2024
After "Live and Let Die" villain Dr. Kananga balloons and explodes from ingesting a gas pellet, Roger Moore's Bond gloats, "He always did have an inflated opinion of himself."
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2021
My husband doesn’t believe me, and she even gloats about that.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2020
But the voice gloats back, “Urgente,” and Tatica must obey.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Hofstra University, better known for its scholarly conferences on presidents, recently convened one to celebrate the life of a baseball player who once gloated about making more money than a U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2024
I gloated and asked if he could debunk false claims made by his opponent.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 30, 2022
But in the fifth he was burned by good friend Ryan Mountcastle, who was in Harvey’s wedding and gloated with a text and phone call shorty after the game.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2022
But Twitter is blocked in the mainland, and on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, users gloated about finding regional Chinese food in online maps of Taiwan.
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2022
It sat on the meat, just as though it had been invited to dinner, and rubbed its hairy paws as it gloated over the meal.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who poured a lot of time, money, coordination, pressure, and campaigning into the outcome, was understandably gloating following the result.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2026
I won’t join in the gloating of some critics at the hundreds who have lost their jobs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
The BBC learned earlier this week that the hackers sent an abuse-filled email directly to M&S's boss on 23 April, gloating about what they had done and demanding payment.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025
Three is either a charm or a curse – depending on your point of view – and there are plenty of people gloating or kvetching today.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2024
The kind of gloating you do when you win and you’re glad, but you’re trying not to be too much of a jerk about it.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
