triumphs

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of triumph.

   The general's military triumphs were carved into the stone arch.

   Among her greatest triumphs was the discovery that reshaped the field.

   Note

   The plural counts separate occasions: a career's successive victories, or several ceremonies held to honor a victor. Two older meanings, a stately pageant and a trump card, are now obsolete, so in modern prose the plural almost always means victories or achievements. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, and context shows which one is meant: her triumphs (things she won) versus she triumphs (she wins).

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of triumph.

   The challenger triumphs against far stronger opponents year after year.

   Reason rarely triumphs when fear takes hold of a crowd.

   Note

   A present-tense verb that is normally followed by over rather than a direct object: one triumphs over rivals, challenges or difficulties. It can also lean toward gloating. Someone who triumphs over a beaten opponent may be exulting, not just prevailing. A looser use means simply flourishing. In card games it means playing a trump, a link it shares with the obsolete card meaning of the plural noun.

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