Glory

How to spell glory

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce glory

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does glory mean?

1. nounGreat honour, fame, or magnificent beauty won or displayed.

Glory in a sentence

• The team played for the glory of winning the championship.

• The cathedral was restored to its former glory.

Where does glory come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Glory comes from the Latin noun gloria, which meant fame, renown, or high honour, the kind of public praise won through great deeds. English took the word in during the early 1200s through Old French glorie, which kept that same sense of honour and splendour. Over time the meaning broadened from the renown owed to a person to the radiance and magnificence of a thing itself, so that a sunset or a building could be described as full of glory. The religious sense, the praise and majesty of God, came in strongly through church Latin and the Bible. The same root survives in the verb 'glorify' and the adjective 'glorious', and the steady -glor- spine is what keeps the spelling regular and easy to recall.

How the word is built

• glor- (from Latin gloria: fame, renown)
• -y (noun suffix)