pride
- 1Justified self-respect, and the satisfaction one feels in oneself or in such things as one's work or family.
The workers take real pride in building furniture that lasts for generations.
Her parents watched with pride as she crossed the stage at graduation.
UsageOften take pride in something, watch with pride, or swell with pride.
Similarsatisfaction, self-esteem, self-respect
Oppositeshame
- 2To take pride in something or be proud of it, used with a reflexive pronoun and on or upon.
We pride ourselves on answering every customer email within a day.
The old carpenter prided himself on joints so tight they needed no glue.
UsageFollowed by on + noun or -ing: she prides herself on her cooking, on being on time.
Note
The verb has been made from the noun since at least the twelfth century, and today it lives almost only in the reflexive pride oneself on: a person prides herself on her cooking, a firm prides itself on its service. Upon is the older-sounding choice, as when Ichabod prides himself upon his dancing in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820).
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The verb pride derives from the noun and dates to at least the twelfth century. en.wiktionary.org
- The narrator describes Ichabod as priding himself upon his dancing. gutenberg.org
- Washington Irving wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. gutenberg.org
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was first published in 1820. en.wikipedia.org
- 3An excessively high opinion of one's own importance, talent, or superiority, or the haughty, disdainful attitude and behavior toward others that shows it.
Blinded by pride, the champion was sure no challenger could ever beat him.
Years of praise had swollen his pride until he thought himself the most gifted painter of his generation.
UsageOften full of pride or blinded by pride; the saying is pride comes before a fall.
Similararrogance, conceit, vanity, hubris, haughtiness
- 4An annual city festival or event, usually with a march or parade, celebrating the experiences and identities of LGBTQ people and promoting their interests and rights.
Thousands of people marched through the city center during this year's Pride.
Local businesses hung rainbow flags in their windows the week before Pride.
UsageCapital P and usually no article: go to Pride, at Pride; also Pride Week, Pride Month.
- 5A person or thing one is proud of, a source of self-esteem or self-congratulation whether reasonable or arrogant.
The restored steam engine is the pride of the railway museum.
That old pickup truck was my grandfather's pride, and he washed it every Sunday.
UsageUsually the pride of a place or group, or my pride and joy for something dearly loved.
Similartreasure, jewel, gem, glory
Oppositedisgrace
Note
The thing can feed honest self-esteem or plain arrogance: in the King James Bible of 1611, the pride of the Philistines is something marked to be cut off.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
- The King James Bible says that the pride of the Philistines will be cut off, in Zechariah 9:6. en.wikisource.org
- 6A movement encouraging LGBTQ people to take a positive view of their own personal identity.
For many LGBTQ teenagers, Pride offers a way to see their identity as something to celebrate rather than hide.
Decades of Pride activism have changed how many schools treat LGBTQ students.
Less common meanings
- 7A group of lions or other large members of the cat family.
The pride brought down a zebra near the river at dusk.
Rangers have counted three prides in this part of the reserve.
UsageUsually a pride of lions.
Note
Lions are the animals this collective noun belongs to, and in zoology it names a real social unit rather than any gathering of cats: a family group of adults and their offspring. Young males leave home as they mature and roam as bachelors until they can seize a pride or establish their own.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- A lion pride is a social group containing adults and their offspring. nationalzoo.si.edu
- Young male lions leave their natal prides as they mature and spend time alone or in bachelor groups. sanbi.org
- Dispersing males seek to take over a pride. nationalzoo.si.edu
- Dispersing young males can form new prides. worldwildlife.org
- 8The highest rank or level; figuratively, the height reached, or loftiness and glory.
The championship trophy was given pride of place in the club's lobby.
On the restaurant's new menu, locally caught fish takes pride of place.
UsageAlmost always in pride of place: something takes, has or is given pride of place.
Note
Shakespeare's Macbeth shows the older picture: a falcon towering in her pride of place, at the very top of her flight, and the modern phrase keeps that image of something set above everything around it.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Shakespeare's Macbeth contains the falcon passage; the Old Man speaks it in Act 2, scene 4. folger.edu
- The falconry expression refers to the highest point of flight. en.wikisource.org
- 9
- 10Outward show or ostentatious display; glory.
The duke's household traveled in pride and splendor, with gilded coaches and liveried servants.
The coronation unfolded with all the pride and pomp the old kingdom could muster.
Similarglory, splendor, magnificence
Note
Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590) clothes lofty trees in summer's pride, and Othello bids farewell to the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war, the line that gave English the phrase pomp and circumstance.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books were first published in 1590. gla.ac.uk
- The Faerie Queene describes lofty trees clothed in summer's pride. gutenberg.org
- The character Othello bids farewell to the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war. folger.edu
- The English phrase pomp and circumstance originated in Shakespeare's line. britishcouncil.org
- 11Lust or sexual desire, or the state of being in heat, especially in a female animal.
Note
A present-day reader will hear pride on its own as self-esteem or arrogance, which is why this archaic sense needs care. In older writing about animals, read it as heat; in modern prose, write heat for an animal, as in a mare in heat, and lust or desire for a person.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Pride has an archaic sense meaning lust or sexual heat, especially in a female animal. en.wiktionary.org
- 12The larva of a European lamprey, a blind, mud-dwelling young form once taken for a separate species and named Petromyzon branchialis.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
Old English prūd ("proud") gave the derivative prȳde or prȳte ("pride"), which became Middle English pryde or pride. Old Norse prýði ("bravery, pomp") is a comparable word. The verb has been formed from the noun since the 12th century at least.