pride

• IPA^(key): /pɹaɪd/, [ˈpɹ̥ʷaɪ̯d]

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -aɪd
• Homophone: pried

From Middle English pryde, pride, from Old English prȳde, prȳte (“pride”) (compare Old Norse prýði (“bravery, pomp”)), derivative of Old English prūd (“proud”). More at proud. The verb derives from the noun, at least since the 12th century.

• pryde (obsolete)

pride (countable and uncountable, plural prides)

1. The quality or state of being proud.
   1. A sense of one's own worth; reasonable self-esteem and satisfaction (in oneself, in one's work, one's family, etc).

      He swelled with pride as he held the trophy. His family watched with pride from the bleachers.

      He takes great pride in his work.

      He had pride of ownership in his department.

      • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, chapter 3, in The Vicar of Wakefield:

        My chief attention therefore was now to bring down the pride of my family to their circumstances; for I well knew that aspiring beggary is wretchedness itself.

      • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

        A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants.

   2. An unreasonable overestimation of one's own superiority in terms of talents, or looks, wealth, importance, etc., which comes across as being haughty, lofty, and often showing contempt of others; exaggerated self-worth.
2. Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment that reflects such an attitude (of haughtiness); arrogance.

   Synonyms: disdain, hubris

   • 1912, G. K. Chesterton, Introduction to Aesop's Fables:

     Pride goeth before the fall.

3. That of which one is proud; that which excites self-congratulation and self-esteem (whether reasonable or arrogant), for example beauty, ornament, noble character, children, etc.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Zechariah 9:6:

     And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

   • 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:

     a bold peasantry, their country's pride

4. Show; ostentation; glory.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     lofty trees yclad with summer's pride

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war.

5. Highest pitch; elevation reached; loftiness; prime; glory.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     a falcon, towering in her pride of place

6. Consciousness of power; fullness of animal spirits; mettle; wantonness.
7. Lust; sexual desire; especially, excitement of sexual appetite in a female animal.
8. (zoology, collective) A company of lions or other large felines.

   A pride of lions often consists of a dominant male, his harem and their offspring, but young adult males 'leave home' to roam about as bachelors pride until able to seize/establish a family pride of their own.

9. Alternative letter-case form of Pride (“festival for LGBT people”).
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:pride.

• (a reasonable sense of one's own worth): dignity, self-esteem; See also Thesaurus:pride
• (an excessive sense of one's own worth): arrogance, conceit, disdain; See also Thesaurus:arrogance
• (lust; sexual desire): See also Thesaurus:lust

• (antonym(s) of “a reasonable sense of one's own worth”): shame, humiliation, self-pity
• (antonym(s) of “an excessive sense of one's own worth”): humility, modesty

• proud

• clowder, company of small felines

pride (third-person singular simple present prides, present participle priding, simple past and past participle prided)

2. (reflexive) To take or experience pride in something; to be proud of it.

   I pride myself on being a good judge of character.

   • 1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

     Ichabod prided himself upon his dancing as much as upon his vocal powers. Not a limb, not a fibre about him was idle; and to have seen his loosely hung frame in full motion and clattering about the room you would have thought Saint Vitus himself, that blessed patron of the dance, was figuring before you in person.

   • 2021 December 29, Paul Stephen, “Rail's accident investigators”, in RAIL, number 947, page 32:

     RAIB prides itself on being able to send any of its inspectors to site with sufficient investigative skills and technical knowledge to gather evidence for any type of accident.

• prided
• priding

From Middle English pryde, from Middle Low German lampride, from Medieval Latin lampreda.

pride (uncountable)

1. (zoology) The small European lamprey species Petromyzon branchialis.

   Synonyms: prid, sandpiper

• sand-pride

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “pride”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• redip, re-dip, Pider, Pedir, riped, pried

pride

1. alternative form of pryde (“proudness”)

pride

1. alternative form of pryden