Dictionary

vainglorious en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌveɪnˈɡlɔː.ɹi.əs/ (UK, US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. Possessing excessive vanity or unwarranted pride.
   • 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.] 1943 March and April, “Notes and News: Southern Locomotive Destroys Raider”, in Railway Magazine, page 119:
   • 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, […] 1694 May 8 (date delivered; 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[mas] Warren for Thomas Bennet […], →OCLC, page 263:
   • "So kindly keep the vainglorious enumeration of your pots for the benefit of those village idiots who compose your particular set of boozing companions." 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 85:
   • I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin. After all, I reflected I was like my neighbours; and then I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect. And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering. 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 131:
   • These attacks follow a familiar pattern: Their targets represent a threat to Trump’s vainglorious self-image. 2016 February 29, Ron Fournier, “How to Bully a Bully”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2016:

Forms

Deriveds

vaingloriously · vaingloriousness

Relateds

vainglory

Translations (33)

bg суетен (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · ka დიდების მოყვარე (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · nl verwaand (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · de hochmütig (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · pt vanglorioso (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · fr orgueilleux (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · fi turhantärkeä (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · hy փառամոլ (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · es soberbio (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · es fanfarrón (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · bg тщесла́вен (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · grc κενόδοξος (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · es fachendoso (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · cs zpupný (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · fr fanfaron (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · grc πέρπερος (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · frm vainglorieux (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · ka პატივმოყვარე (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · es vanaglorioso (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · ru тщесла́вный (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · it vanaglorioso (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · es perdonavidas (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · cmn 非常自負 /非常自负 (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · de aufgeblasen (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · fr vaniteux (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · de prahlerisch (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · fi tyhmänylpeä (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · el ματαιόδοξος (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · fi turhamainen (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · got 𐍆𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · es vanidoso (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · de dünkelhaft (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride) · cs chvástavý (with excessive vanity or unwarranted pride)