Magnificent

How to spell magnificent

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce magnificent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does magnificent mean?

1. adjectiveStrikingly beautiful, impressive, or grand in scale or quality.

Magnificent in a sentence

• The hotel offered a magnificent view of the harbour.

• The chef prepared a magnificent four-course dinner for the guests.

Where does magnificent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin magnificus, meaning 'great in deeds' or 'splendid', formed from magnus, which literally meant 'great' or 'large', and the verb facere, meaning 'to make' or 'to do'. The fuller form magnificentior gave the stem that English eventually adopted. It travelled into English through Old French in the late 1400s, originally describing acts of generous, lordly grandeur before broadening to mean anything strikingly beautiful or impressive. The magnus root still sits inside familiar relatives such as 'magnitude', 'magnify' and the title 'magnate', while the facere root surfaces in words like 'manufacture' and 'efficient'. Remembering that the middle of the word is built from facere (to make) helps fix the tricky 'fic' spelling rather than the 'fis' sound the ear expects.

How the word is built

• magni- (from magnus: great, large)
• -fic- (from facere: to make, to do)
• -ent (adjective suffix)