lofty

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈlɔfti/ UK /ˈlɒfti/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
of great height; noble in sentiment, or haughty

He held lofty ideals about justice and reform.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · of great height; noble in... towering soaring elevated noble exalted haughty grand imposing

Opposites

low humble modest lowly

Word family

Forms loftily

Derived forms loftilyloftiness

Related forms loft aloft

Etymology

From loft ('an upper room, height', from Old Norse lopt 'air, sky, upper room') + the adjectival suffix -y. The figurative senses 'noble' and 'haughty' developed from 'high'.

lopt Old Norse

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# lofty

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

## Meanings
1. of great height; noble in sentiment, or haughty

## Examples
- He held lofty ideals about justice and reform.

## Synonyms
- towering
- soaring
- elevated
- noble
- exalted
- haughty
- grand
- imposing

## Antonyms
- low
- humble
- modest
- lowly

## Derived Forms
- loftily
- loftiness

## Related Forms
- loft
- aloft

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: lopt

## Etymology
From loft ('an upper room, height', from Old Norse lopt 'air, sky, upper room') + the adjectival suffix -y. The figurative senses 'noble' and 'haughty' developed from 'high'.

## AI Etymology
Lofty comes from loft ('an upper room, height', from Old Norse lopt 'air, sky, upper room') + the adjectival suffix -y. The figurative senses 'noble' and 'haughty' developed from 'high'. The etymological trail includes Old Norse lopt. As an adjective, lofty means of great height; noble in sentiment, or haughty. The same family is visible in derived forms such as loftily and loftiness and related forms such as loft and aloft. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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