vainglorious

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English

WOTD – 11 December 2008

Etymology

From Middle English veinglorious, from Old French vain glorios, from Latin vānus (“empty”) + glōriōsus.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˌveɪnˈɡlɔː.ɹi.əs/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹiəs

Adjective

vainglorious (comparative more vainglorious, superlative most vainglorious)

  1. With excessive vanity or unwarranted pride.
    • 1694 May 9 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1698, Robert South, “Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making it so, Proved in a Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey, April 29. 1694.”, in Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions, volume III, London: Tho Warren for Thomas Bennet , →OCLC, page 263:
      And the Apoſtle [Paul] ſeems here moſt peculiarly to have directed this Encomium of the Gospel, as a Defiance to the Philoſophers of his Time, the Fluſtring Vain-glorious Greeks, vvho pretended ſo much to magnify, and even Adore the VViſdom they profeſſed, […]
      An adjective use.
    • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 85:
      "So kindly keep the vainglorious enumeration of your pots for the benefit of those village idiots who compose your particular set of boozing companions."
    • 1943 March and April, “Notes and News: Southern Locomotive Destroys Raider”, in Railway Magazine, page 119:
      Railway engines have been attacked with gunfire by raiding aircraft on both sides of the Channel and the impression has grown up that they are defenceless monsters to be pestered with impunity. The first engine to disprove this vainglorious theory was, we are glad to note, a British one. [The locomotive boiler exploded, causing the aircraft to crash.]

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