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GLORIOUS
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having great beauty and splendor
Example:
a kind of splendiferous native simplicity
Synonyms:
glorious; resplendent; splendid; splendiferous
Classified under:
Similar:
beautiful (delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration)
Derivation:
glory (brilliant radiant beauty)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having or deserving or conferring glory
Example:
our glorious literature
Classified under:
Similar:
bright (splendid)
celebrated; historied; storied (having an illustrious past)
divine; elysian; inspired (being of such surpassing excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods)
empyreal; empyrean; sublime (inspiring awe)
illustrious (having or conferring glory)
incandescent (characterized by ardent emotion or intensity or brilliance)
lustrous (brilliant)
Also:
known (apprehended with certainty)
Antonym:
inglorious (not bringing honor and glory)
Derivation:
glory (a state of high honor)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Characterized by grandeur
Example:
the splendid coronation ceremony
Synonyms:
brilliant; glorious; magnificent; splendid
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)
Derivation:
glory (brilliant radiant beauty)
Context examples:
After one of the many praises of the day, which were continually bursting forth, Captain Wentworth added:—What glorious weather for the Admiral and my sister!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
The spectacular planetary nebula NGC 7009, or the Saturn Nebula, emerges from the darkness like a series of oddly-shaped bubbles, lit up in glorious pinks and blues.
(The Strange Structures of the Saturn Nebula, ESO)
Right and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon them and bringing out all the glorious colours of this beautiful range, deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks, green and brown where grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where the snowy peaks rose grandly.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I dashed from my chair, threw my arms round Holmes, and together we lurched through the door, and an instant afterwards had thrown ourselves down upon the grass plot and were lying side by side, conscious only of the glorious sunshine which was bursting its way through the hellish cloud of terror which had girt us in.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It advertised itself in all his movements, was apparent in the play of every muscle, spoke plainly as speech in the way he carried himself, and made his glorious furry coat if anything more glorious.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
The charming Augusta Hawkins, in addition to all the usual advantages of perfect beauty and merit, was in possession of an independent fortune, of so many thousands as would always be called ten; a point of some dignity, as well as some convenience: the story told well; he had not thrown himself away—he had gained a woman of 10,000 l. or thereabouts; and he had gained her with such delightful rapidity—the first hour of introduction had been so very soon followed by distinguishing notice; the history which he had to give Mrs. Cole of the rise and progress of the affair was so glorious—the steps so quick, from the accidental rencontre, to the dinner at Mr. Green's, and the party at Mrs. Brown's—smiles and blushes rising in importance—with consciousness and agitation richly scattered—the lady had been so easily impressed—so sweetly disposed—had in short, to use a most intelligible phrase, been so very ready to have him, that vanity and prudence were equally contented.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the heath-covered countryside, with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse, seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the duns and drabs and slate greys of London.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Finally, if you have a planet in Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus, Pisces, Scorpio, or Cancer at 20 degrees, plus or minus five degrees, you will also benefit from this glorious full moon.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
My fellow-man and myself are no longer on those glorious terms!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
And to love, and to wait and win love, that surely was glorious enough for me.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
