Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

sumptuous

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads

English

WOTD – 14 May 2012, 14 May 2013, 14 May 2014, 14 May 2015

Etymology

From French somptueux, from Latin sumptuōsus, from sūmptus (“cost, charge, expense”), from sumō (“to take”) +‎ -tus (noun formation suffix).

Pronunciation

Adjective

sumptuous (comparative more sumptuous, superlative most sumptuous)

  1. Magnificent, luxurious, splendid.
    Synonym: lavish
    • 1764, Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller:
      Though poor the peasant’s hut, his feasts though small,
      He sees his little lot the lot of all;
      Sees no contiguous palace rear its head
      To shame the meanness of his humble shed;
      No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal
      To make him loathe his vegetable meal;
    • 1829, Washington Irving, The Alhambra‎, archived from the original on 8 September 2015:
      I wandered on until I came to a sumptuous palace with a garden adorned with fountains and fishponds, and groves and flowers, and orchards laden with delicious fruit.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 31, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
      It was a sumptuous nature, perhaps, that could not be brought to regard money; a natural generosity and kindness; and possibly a petty vanity that was pleased with praise, even with the praise of waiters and cabmen.
    • 1955 April, R. K. Kirkland, “The Staines Branch, Western Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 227:
      There were some unofficial local rejoicings, but none of the elaborate junketings which marked the birth of earlier railways. The company had little cash to spend on sumptuous cold collations, and the like.
    • 2012 April 21, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport‎:
      Cabaye pulled all the strings in a dominant home performance and capped a majestic individual display with a sumptuous first-time finish into the far corner for his second goal of the afternoon.

Derived terms

Translations

Remove ads

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads