Definitions

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

  • noun A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
  • noun Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association.
  • noun Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
  • noun A cause or source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class.
  • noun The most successful or thriving condition; prime.
  • noun An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.
  • noun Mettle or spirit in horses.
  • noun Zoology A group of lions, usually consisting of several related females and their offspring and a small number of unrelated adult males.
  • noun A flamboyant or impressive group.
  • transitive verb To indulge (oneself) in a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or condition of being proud, or a feeling of elation or exultation on account of what one is or has or is connected with, in any sense.
  • noun A becoming and dignified sense of what is due to one's personality, character, or position; firm self-respect.
  • noun A reasonable feeling of elation or exultation in view of one's doings, achievements, or possessions, or those of a person or persons intimately connected with one.
  • noun Haughty or arrogant bearing or conduct; overbearing treatment of others; insolent exultation; vainglorying.
  • noun Exuberance of animal spirits; warmth of temperament; mettle.
  • noun Hence Lust; sexual desire; especially, the excitement of the sexual appetite in a female animal.
  • noun Wantonness; extravagance; excess; hence, impertinence; impudence.
  • noun That which is or may be a cause of pride; that of which men are proud.
  • noun Highest pitch; elevation; loftiness; the best or most admired part of a thing; the height; full force, extent, or quantity.
  • noun Decoration; ornament; beauty displayed; specifically, in heraldry, a term applicable to the peacock, turkey-cock, and other birds which spread their tails in a circular form, and drop their wings: as, a peacock in his pride.
  • noun Splendid show; ostentation.
  • noun A company or group (of lions).
  • noun Lameness; impediment.
  • noun Synonyms Pride, Egotism, Vanity, etc. (see egotism), self-exaltation, self-sufficiency, vainglory.
  • noun Pride, Arrogance, Presumption, etc. (see arrogance), lordliness, hauteur.
  • noun Ornament, glory, splendor.
  • To indulge in pride, elation, or self-esteem; value (one's self): used reflexively.
  • To spread, as a bird its tail-feathers.
  • To be proud; exult; glory: sometimes with indefinite it.
  • noun The larval lamprey.
  • noun A kind of lamprey; especially, the mud-lamprey. See Ammocætes and lamprey. Also sand-pride and pride of the Isis.

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

  • intransitive verb rare To be proud; to glory.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A small European lamprey (Petromyzon branchialis); -- called also prid, and sandpiper.
  • transitive verb To indulge in pride, or self-esteem; to rate highly; to plume; -- used reflexively.
  • noun The quality or state of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank, etc., which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.
  • noun A sense of one's own worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of one; lofty self-respect; noble self-esteem; elevation of character; dignified bearing; proud delight; -- in a good sense.
  • noun Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing and conduct; insolent exultation; disdain.
  • noun That of which one is proud; that which excites boasting or self-gratulation; the occasion or ground of self-esteem, or of arrogant and presumptuous confidence, as beauty, ornament, noble character, children, etc.
  • noun Show; ostentation; glory.
  • noun Highest pitch; elevation reached; loftiness; prime; glory.
  • noun obsolete Consciousness of power; fullness of animal spirits; mettle; wantonness; hence, lust; sexual desire; esp., an excitement of sexual appetite in a female beast.
  • noun (Bot.) See Margosa.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the camel.

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

  • noun The quality or state of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank etc., which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve and often contempt of others.
  • noun A sense of one's own worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of one; lofty self-respect; noble self-esteem; elevation of character; dignified bearing; proud delight; -- in a good sense.
  • noun Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment; insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing and conduct; insolent exultation; disdain; hubris.
  • noun That of which one is proud; that which excites boasting or self-gratulation; the occasion or ground of self-esteem, or of arrogant and presumptuous confidence, as beauty, ornament, noble character, children etc.
  • noun zoology The small European lamprey species Petromyzon branchialis.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old English prȳde, from prūd, proud; see proud.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English prȳde, pryte ("pride") (compare Old Norse prýði ("bravery, pomp")), derivative of Old English prūd ("proud").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Pride goes before a fall.

    November 30, 2007

  • As a verb, for me this requires its object to be reflexive: Mary prided herself on her wit. (So also avail, behave, busy, comport, ingratiate, perjure) The OED however cites a number of modern instances of non-reflexive objects, e.g.

    Mr Keating has long prided his record of bringing Budgets in on target . . .

    He prided his character and dignity over failure and temporary constraints.

    My husband prides us greatly.

    These all strike me as errors. I will a little reluctanctly concede the grammaticality of pride in + gerund-participial clause, as in A liberal such as Sally Watson, who prided in, among her broad-minded accomplishments, having had a Puerto Rican husband and two black lovers. Even that I don't like. I might say it, but I would still strongly prefer prided herself on having. However, this appears to be a dialect difference.

    June 19, 2009

  • excellency

    July 23, 2009