proud
- feeling pleasure or satisfaction over something regarded as highly honorable or creditable to oneself (often followed by of, an infinitive, or a clause).
- having, proceeding from, or showing a high opinion of one's own dignity, importance, or superiority.
- having or showing self-respect or self-esteem.
- highly gratifying to the feelings or self-esteem: It was a proud day for him when his son entered college.
- highly honorable or creditable: a proud achievement.
- stately, majestic, or magnificent: proud cities.
- of lofty dignity or distinction: a proud name; proud nobles.
- Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pleased; happy: I'm proud to meet you.
- full of vigor and spirit: a proud young stallion.
- Obsolete. brave.
- do one proud,
- to be a source of pride or credit to a person: His conduct in such a difficult situation did him proud.
- to treat someone or oneself generously or lavishly: You really did us proud with this supper.
Origin of proud
Synonyms
See more synonyms for proud on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Examples from the Web for proudness
Historical Examples
It has many fine residences, and an air of proudness and of aristocracy enthralls it.
proud
- (foll by of, an infinitive, or a clause) pleased or satisfied, as with oneself, one's possessions, achievements, etc, or with another person, his or her achievements, qualities, etc
- feeling honoured or gratified by or as if by some distinction
- having an inordinately high opinion of oneself; arrogant or haughty
- characterized by or proceeding from a sense of pridea proud moment
- having a proper sense of self-respect
- stately or distinguished
- bold or fearless
- (of a surface, edge, etc) projecting or protruding from the surrounding area
- (of animals) restive or excited, esp sexually; on heat
- do someone proud
- to entertain someone on a grand scalethey did us proud at the hotel
- to honour or distinguish a personhis honesty did him proud
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for proudness
proud
adj.
late Old English prud, prute "excellent, splendid; arrogant, haughty," probably from Old French prud, oblique case of adjective prouz "brave, valiant" (11c., Modern French preux; cf. prud'homme "brave man"), from Late Latin prode "advantageous, profitable" (cf. Italian prode "valiant"), a back-formation from Latin prodesse "be useful," from pro- "before, for, instead of" (see pro-) + esse "to be" (see essence). Also cf. pride (n.), prowess.
Meaning "elated by some act, fact, or thing" is from mid-13c. To do (someone) proud attested by 1819. Related: Proudness. "The -d- in prodesse is probably due to the influence of forms like red-eo-, 'I go back,' red-imo- 'I buy back,' etc." [OED]. The Old English form with -te probably is from or influenced by pride.
The sense of "have a high opinion of oneself," not found in Old French, might reflect the Anglo-Saxons' opinion of the Norman knights who called themselves "proud." Old Norse pruðr, probably from the same French source, had only the sense "brave, gallant, magnificent, stately" (cf. Icelandic pruður, Middle Swedish prudh, Middle Danish prud). Likewise a group of "pride" words in the Romance languages -- e.g. French orgueil, Italian orgoglio, Spanish orgullo -- are borrowings from Germanic, where they had positive senses (cf. Old High German urgol "distinguished").
Most Indo-European languages use the same word for "proud" in its good and bad senses, but in many the bad sense seems to be the earlier one. The usual way to form the word is by some compound of terms for "over" or "high" and words for "heart," "mood," "thought," or "appearance;" e.g. Greek hyperephanos, literally "over-appearing;" Gothic hauhþuhts, literally "high-conscience." Old English had ofermodig "over-moody" ("mood" in Anglo-Saxon was a much more potent word than presently) and heahheort "high-heart." Words for "proud" in other Indo-European languages sometimes reflect a physical sense of being swollen or puffed up; cf. Welsh balch, probably from a root meaning "to swell," and Modern Greek kamari, from ancient Greek kamarou "furnish with a vault or arched cover," with a sense evolution via "make an arch," to "puff out the chest," to "be puffed up" (cf. English slang chesty).
Idioms and Phrases with proudness
proud
In addition to the idiom beginning with proud
- proud as a peacock
also see:
- do someone proud