gloating

American  

[gloh-ting] / ˈgloʊ tɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of looking at or speaking or thinking about something with excessive, usually smug or malicious satisfaction.

   For all our gloating about how progressive we are on issues of race and sexual orientation, we lag behind on some other human rights issues.

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adjective

1. looking at or speaking or thinking about something in this way.

   Asked about the protester's arrest, the mayor said with a gloating smile, "I wish him luck.”

Other Word Forms

• gloatingly adverb
• ungloating adjective

Etymology

Origin of gloating

First recorded in 1575–85; gloat ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun; gloat ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective

Example Sentences

They spent the first quarter hour of their walk gloating.

From Literature

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

There was no gloating from John about that.

From Los Angeles Times

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

The Senegalese foreign ministry summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in Dakar to protest after he posted a Facebook video about Mr Yusov’s gloating comments.

From BBC