Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Splendid in appearance; grand: synonym: grand.
  • adjective Grand or noble in thought or accomplishment; exalted.
  • adjective Outstanding of its kind; excellent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Great in deeds or action; especially, very liberal; munificent; generous; open-handed.
  • Making a great show; possessing or pretending to greatness; stately; ostentatious.
  • Grand in appearance or character; exhibiting greatness; splendid; brilliant; of extraordinary excellence: as, a magnificent building or view; a magnificent victory or poem; magnificent conceptions.
  • Exhibiting greatness of size or extent: as, the preparations were upon a magnificent scale; a city of magnificent distances.
  • Synonyms Superb, Splendid, etc. (see grand); imposing, august, gorgeous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Doing grand things; admirable in action; displaying great power or opulence, especially in building, way of living, and munificence.
  • adjective Grand in appearance; exhibiting grandeur or splendor; splendid; pompous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Grand, elegant or splendid in appearance.
  • adjective Grand or noble in action.
  • adjective Exceptional for its kind.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characterized by grandeur

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from magnificence, splendor, from Latin magnificentia, from , magnificent- comparative and superlative stem of magnificus, magnificent; see magnific.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin as if *magnificens, equivalent to magnificus ("great in deeds or sentiment, noble, splendid, etc."), from magnus ("great") + -ficens, an accom. form of -ficiens, the reg. form in compounds of faciens, ppr. of facere ("to do").

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Examples

  • Madam Newcott, kneeling in front of Caroline and intent on putting the finishing touches on what she called a magnificent creation, ignored the comment.

    Rebellious Desire Julie Garwood 1986

  • Huc and Gabet's account of Lhassa is, I do not doubt, excellent as to particulars; but the trees which they describe as magnificent, and girdling the city, have uniformly been represented to me as poor stunted willows, apricots, poplars, and walnuts, confined to the gardens of the rich.

    Himalayan Journals — Complete 1864

  • England had been, and revered him with such enthusiasm for what she called his magnificent manhood and beneficence, as was ready on the least encouragement to have become something a good deal warmer; but whatever she did served to make her distasteful to him.

    My Young Alcides Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862

  • Few women can lay claim to the word "magnificent", but Currie is now surely one of them.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Neil Midgley 2011

  • At a memorial service Thursday that drew some 12,000 people to the Penn State basketball arena, Jay Paterno reflected on what he called the "magnificent daylight" of his legendary father's life.

    CNN.com 2012

  • Curator Joan Murray once called it a "magnificent failure" - the choppy, thickly coloured brush strokes of the water, the flat tree and hills, the clouds billowing against, not with, the wind - but don't discount the word "magnificent."

    Thestar.com - Home Page Murray Whyte 2011

  • At a memorial service Thursday that drew some 12,000 people to the Penn State basketball arena, Jay Paterno reflected on what he called the "magnificent daylight" of his legendary father's life.

    SI.com 2012

  • At a memorial service Thursday that drew some 12,000 people to the Penn State basketball arena, Jay Paterno reflected on what he called the "magnificent daylight" of his legendary father's life.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • At a memorial service Thursday that drew some 12,000 people to the Penn State basketball arena, Jay Paterno reflected on what he called the "magnificent daylight" of his legendary father's life.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2012

  • "Neville Southall could be described as magnificent if only he hadn't been so scruffy," suggests Ian Copestake.

    Wigan Athletic 0 Manchester City 1 | minute-by-minute report 2012

Comments

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  • Only magnificent things can be conjured up in the mind's eye when contemplating the word "magnificent".

    May 13, 2007

  • The very word SOUNDS magnificent.

    July 18, 2009