inglorious
adj/ɪnˈɡlɔɹi.əs/ · /ɪnˈɡloʊɹi.əs/
Etymology From Latin inglōriōsus. By surface analysis, in- + glorious.
1
Ignominious; disgraceful.
- Oh inglorious league: / Shall we vpon the footing of our land, / Send fayre-play-orders, and make comprimiſe, / Inſinuation, parley, and baſe truce / To Armes Inuaſiue?c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 18, column 2:
- Resolved to pursue no inglorious career, he turned his eyes toward the East, as affording scope for his spirit of enterprise.1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter VI, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 54:
2 more examples
- [H]e cast about in his mind for a way to beat a retreat not too inglorious.1906 May–October, Jack London, “The Famine”, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 3 (The Gods of the Wild), page 173:
- The last occasion on which the Kaiser [Wilhelm II] used this train was for an inglorious journey into Holland towards the end of the 1914 war. He spent the night in it at Eysden [Eijsden], while the Queen of the Netherlands and a hastily summoned Cabinet debated what to do with him.1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 251:
2
Archaic Not famous; obscure.
- Great Julius [Caesar], whom now all the world admires / The more he grew in years, the more inflam’d / With glory, wept that he had liv’d ſo long / Inglorious: but thou yet art not too late.1671, John Milton, “The Third Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 56, lines 39–42:
- Derived terms
- ingloriously, ingloriousness