orgulous
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does orgulous mean? Orgulous is an adjective meaning proud or haughty (arrogantly snobby). Orgulous is an archaic term, meaning it’s very rarely used anymore. You’re more likely to encounter it in older literary works than in everyday conversation. It was used by William Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce, for example. Example: These orgulous aristocrats wouldn’t dare to be seen mingling with commoners.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of orgulous
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English orguillous, orguilleus, from Old French orgueillos, equivalent to orgueil “pride” (earlier orgoil, from unattested Germanic urgōlī; compare Old High German urguol “outstanding,” Old English orgol “pride”) + -os adjective suffix ( see -ous)
Explanation
Someone who's orgulous is haughty or self-satisfied. Use this old-fashioned word to describe the most arrogant snob you know, and they'll probably pretend to know what it means. The only place you're likely to come across the word orgulous is in a very old book. Shakespeare used it to describe some prideful Greek royals in Troilus and Cressida, referring to them as "the princes orgulous." Considered obsolete or literary today, orgulous is an Old English word that derives from the Old French orgoill, "pride."
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.
Contrast with this Japanese sage that orgulous hidalgo who, in black velvet, defies modern Prussia from one of Velasquez's canvases in Berlin.
From Yet Again by Beerbohm, Max, Sir
Who then but Talisso laughed his fierce and orgulous laugh as he rode at their head and they all hurled through the gates, and, clattering up the empty street, carried the castle out of hand?
From A Child's Book of Saints by Robinson, T. H. (Thomas Heath)
And Talisso answered, with a peal of orgulous laughter: "Restless as the sea; insatiable as the grave."
From A Child's Book of Saints by Robinson, T. H. (Thomas Heath)
He stood quite still, a figure orgulous and splendent.
From Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story by Beerbohm, Max, Sir
When Modred defied him, the archbishop departed, and "did the curse in the most orgulous wise that might be done."
From Studies from Court and Cloister: being essays, historical and literary dealing mainly with subjects relating to the XVIth and XVIIth centuries by Stone, J. M. (Jean Mary)
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.
