magnificence

English

Alternative forms

• magnificency (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English magnificence, from Old French magnificence, from Latin magnificentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mæɡˈnɪfɪsəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mag‧nif‧i‧cence

Noun

magnificence (countable and uncountable, plural magnificences)

1. grandeur, brilliance, lavishness or splendor
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:

     all fleſh quakes at your magnificence.

   • 1960 March, “Doric Arch and Great Hall at Euston”, in Railway Magazine, page 148:

     It is to be hoped that the final scheme will satisfy all interests—preserving some of old Euston's magnificence but without prejudice to the progress of modernisation.

2. The act of doing what is magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent.

Translations

grandeur

• Catalan: magnificència f
• Esperanto: grandiozeco
• Finnish: suurenmoisuus (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: μεγαλοπρέπεια f (megaloprépeia)

• Hindi: भव्यता (hi) f (bhavyatā)
• Latin: magnificentia f
• Malayalam: ഉജ്ജ്വലത (ujjvalata)
• Māori: marutunatanga
• Middle English: deynte
• Polish: świetność (pl) f
• Portuguese: magnificência (pt) f
• Spanish: magnificencia (es) f

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin magnificentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.ɲi.fi.sɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

magnificence f (plural magnificences)

1. magnificence
2. grandiose liberality

Related terms

• magnificent
• magnifique

Further reading

• “magnificence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012