prides

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of pride.

   Rival prides clashed over the last waterhole during the drought.

   The wildlife reserve tracks the movements of three separate prides.

   Note

   The plural turns a feeling into things you can count. As self-esteem or arrogance, pride usually works as a mass noun. The plural comes into its own with the countable uses: the separate things someone is proud of, or a group of lions. It looks identical to the reflexive verb, but a plural noun never takes a -self object after it.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of pride.

   The chef prides herself on using only locally grown ingredients.

   Our small town prides itself on its centuries of history.

   Note

   This is a verb that almost never stands alone. It takes a reflexive object pointing back to the subject (prides herself, prides itself) and then on to name what earns the pride. Drop the reflexive and the sentence breaks: she prides on her cooking is not English. The spelling is shared with the plural noun, but the verb always carries that -self word.

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