glorious
Americanadjective
-
delightful; wonderful; completely enjoyable.
to have a glorious time at the circus.
- Antonyms:
- disgusting, unpleasant
-
conferring glory.
a glorious victory.
-
full of glory; entitled to great renown.
England is glorious in her poetry.
- Synonyms:
- distinguished, eminent, celebrated, noted, illustrious, renowned, famed, famous
- Antonyms:
- unknown
-
brilliantly beautiful or magnificent; splendid.
a glorious summer day.
-
Archaic. blissfully drunk.
adjective
-
having or full of glory; illustrious
-
conferring glory or renown
a glorious victory
-
brilliantly beautiful
-
delightful or enjoyable
-
informal drunk
Other Word Forms
- gloriously adverb
- gloriousness noun
- quasi-glorious adjective
- quasi-gloriously adverb
- superglorious adjective
- supergloriously adverb
- supergloriousness noun
- unglorious adjective
- ungloriously adverb
Etymology
Origin of glorious
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French glorieus, from Latin glōriōsus; equivalent to glory + -ous
Explanation
When something is fabulous and wonderful it can be described as glorious, like the glorious sight of the first flowers in your yard after a long, cold winter. The adjective glorious comes from the Latin word gloriosus, which means “full of glory,” or “famous.” What are some glorious things? The Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, an Olympian's athleticism, the towering skyscrapers of New York City, autumn sunlight filtering through a forest of changing leaves, and the list goes on. If it is beautiful, amazing, fantastic and awe-inspiring, it’s glorious.
Vocabulary lists containing glorious
"Beowulf," Vocabulary from the epic poem
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"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman?" (1863)
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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.
“I can see the connection with the glorious past. The level of execution for many of the products was very high.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
Ralph Waldo Emerson declared that Brown would “make the gallows as glorious as the cross.”
From Slate • Apr. 2, 2026
He also shows a surprising—and fatally unwise—humility when declining calls to become the Roman emperor, citing his age: “A better head her glorious body fits than his that shakes for age and feebleness.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026
"As female comedians, especially if you've been performing on stage, we just have to be so prepared and it's been glorious to watch her be so prepared even at this stage of her career."
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026
Pong caught the scent of incense cutting through the glorious pork smell.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
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.
