inglorious

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪnˈɡlɔriəs/ UK /ɪnˈɡlɔːriəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
causing shame or lacking honor; ignominious

The campaign ended in an inglorious retreat across the river.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · causing shame or lacking... ignominious shameful dishonorable disgraceful humiliating contemptible

Opposites

glorious honorable illustrious celebrated

Word family

Derived forms ingloriouslyingloriousness

Related forms glorious glory glorify

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

inglorious defeat
A humiliating failure to win or succeed.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Latin inglorius ('without fame, obscure'), from in- ('not') + gloria ('glory, fame'), of uncertain ultimate origin.

inglorius Latin gloria Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# inglorious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪnˈɡlɔriəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪnˈɡlɔːriəs/

## Meanings
1. causing shame or lacking honor; ignominious

## Examples
- The campaign ended in an inglorious retreat across the river.

## Synonyms
- ignominious
- shameful
- dishonorable
- disgraceful
- humiliating
- contemptible

## Antonyms
- glorious
- honorable
- illustrious
- celebrated

## Derived Forms
- ingloriously
- ingloriousness

## Related Forms
- glorious
- glory
- glorify

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: inglorius
- Root: gloria

## Etymology
From Latin inglorius ('without fame, obscure'), from in- ('not') + gloria ('glory, fame'), of uncertain ultimate origin.

## AI Etymology
inglorious comes from Latin inglorius ('without fame, obscure'), from in- ('not') + gloria ('glory, fame'), of uncertain ultimate origin. Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. The etymology remains cautious where the history is cautious: comparisons, echoic formation, or disputed derivation do not make the ancestry more definite than the forms actually named. In present English, the adjective sense is "causing shame or lacking honor; ignominious", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as glorious, glory, and glorify, and in derivatives such as ingloriously and ingloriousness. Its semantic neighborhood includes ignominious, shameful, dishonorable, and disgraceful, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin inglorius and Latin gloria.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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