Dictionary

splendiferous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /splɛnˈdɪfəɹəs/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English splendiferous, from Medieval Latin splendiferus + -ous, from Late Latin splendōrifer, from Latin splendor + -fer (“bearing”). Reintroduced humorously into English c. 1837.

Meanings

1. Beautiful, splendid.
   • Okja begins with a splendiferous introduction to its title character. Who is Okja? 2017 June 28, David Sims, “Netflix’s Okja Is a Must-See Fable About a Super-Pig”, in The Atlantic:
   • but somebody who'd given my Uncle Sol a Victor Victrola and records while he lived presented to him upon the auspicious occasion of his decease a scrumptious not to mention splendiferous funeral with tall boys in black gloves and flowers and everything and 1959, e. e. cummings, “nobody loses all the time”, in 100 selected poems, page 21:
   • And I'd like to have a large house and a splendiferous garden, and then you could all come and live with me, and we would play in the garden, and Dorry should have turkey five times a day if he liked. 1872, Susan Coolidge [pseudonym; Sarah Chauncey Woolsey], What Katy Did:
   • Oh ! you splendiferous creatur’! you anngeliferous anngel! here am I, Ralph Stackpole the Screamer[…] 1837, Robert Montgomery Bird with William Harrison Ainsworth, Nick of the Woods: A Story of Kentucky, pages 118–119:
   • Hey boss, did you ever see a more splendiferous crash? 1964, Nikos Kazantzakis, Michael Cacoyannis, Zorba the Greek, spoken by Alexis Zorba (Anthony Quinn):
   • […]he was trying to convince the Spaniards on the Viceroy's brig that they really ought to be interested in certain splendiferous goods that he, Mr. Foot, the owner and captain of this galleot, had of late brought out of the Orient—particularly, carpets. 2004, Neal Stephenson, The Confusion, page 178:
   • You move a motion? Steve boy, you’re going it some. More bluggy drunkables? Will immensely splendiferous stander permit one stooder of most extreme poverty and one largesize grandacious thirst to terminate one expensive inaugurated libation? 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Chapter 14 "Oxen of the Sun"]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:
   • "[…]I want to write something most splendiferous to-day, and I am sure to find it in your face. I have ceased to be an original writer; all the purple patches are cribbed from you." 1900, J. M. Barrie, Tommy and Grizel:

Forms

Deriveds

splendiferousness · splendiferously