splendid

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin splendidus (“bright, shining; sumptuous, illustrious”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} partly also borrowed from French splendide,^{[7][8][9][10]} from splendeō (“to be bright, shine”).^{[2][3][5][10]} Etymonline and Barnhart think it is probably in part a shortening of the earlier splendidious, recorded from the early 15th century.^[5][6] Klein takes the Latin verb from an Indo-European base Proto-Indo-European *(s)plend- (“bright”), and compares spléndžiu (“I shine”) and lainn (“bright”).^[11][10] Merriam-Webster compares Ancient Greek σποδός (spodós, “ashes”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marked by grandeur, sumptuous: 1624,^[2][6][4] the 1620s in Etymonline^[5] and 1615–25 in Dictionary.com.^[12] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins notes that the early examples describe a grand place or occasion.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the adjective was applied to people who lived in great style (1658),^[2] to things that are brilliantly bright (1634, now rare),^[2] and to whatever is imposing by its greatness (1653).^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "showy; magnificent; sumptuous; pompous".^[14] The weakened sense "excellent, very good", recorded from 1644,^[2] is now the commonest in conversation, and Dictionary.com notes that it and similar words of admiration are often used in mild exaggeration.^[12][15] Milton's "splendid vassalage" (1667) began the use of the word to qualify a noun of contrary meaning,^[2][14] and splendid isolation was first used at the end of the 19th century of Great Britain's keeping out of European alliances.^[13][2]

Timeline

• early 15th century – splendidious.^[5][6]
• 1624 – sumptuous, grand.^[2][6]
• 1634 – brilliantly bright.^[2]
• 1644 – excellent, very good.^[2]
• 1653 – imposing, impressive.^[2]
• 1658 – of persons, living in great style.^[2]
• 1667 – splendid vassalage, in Milton.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Magnificent or impressive in appearance; sumptuous: The hall was splendid with gilded mirrors.
2. Illustrious or glorious: a splendid career.
3. (informal) Very good; excellent: We had a splendid evening.
4. Brightly shining; radiant.

Word family

• splendidly
• splendidness
• unsplendid

Related words

• resplendent
• splendor
• splendour
• splendiferous
• splendent

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins