What does gloating mean?
Gloating is the act of feeling or displaying smug satisfaction because another person has suffered a setback, while taking malicious or selfish pleasure in another's misfortune. The word is most often used for a deliberately unkind emotional display, as when a rival is defeated, embarrassed, or punished, and it therefore has a strongly negative connotation. It can function as a verb in phrases such as “gloating over a rival's defeat” and as an adjective before nouns such as “a gloating smile.” Although describing ordinary triumph or celebration is possible, such use sounds deliberately harsh and suggests that the speaker considers the person's pleasure excessive or inappropriate. The related noun “gloater” denotes someone who gloats, while “gloated” is the past tense and past participle of “gloat.” Gloating is worth knowing because it captures a specific social judgment: pleasure that depends on someone else's harm. It is more pointed than ordinary celebration and more contemptuous than simply expressing pride.
To take malicious or smug pleasure in another person's misfortune or defeat.
"The team gloated over its opponent's collapse."
The verb is normally used with “over” and is strongly disapproving.
Expressing or characterized by malicious or smug satisfaction.
"His gloating smile revealed how pleased he was by their failure."
Commonly used before words such as “smile,” “grin,” “look,” and “expression.”
A gloating smile says less “I'm happy” than “I'm happy this happened to you.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does gloating come from?
Gloating is the present participle of the verb gloat. The verb developed from Middle English gloten and Old English glōtan, whose earlier senses concerned looking askance, glaring, or scowling; its modern sense of taking malicious or smug pleasure in another's misfortune arose later. The word belongs to a Germanic family that also includes Dutch gloten and German glotzen, both associated with staring or glaring.
Related word forms
How gloating is actually used
Gloating is strongly evaluative and usually conveys disapproval. It is harsher than merely celebrating and implies that the pleasure depends on someone else's harm or humiliation. In American pronunciation, the first vowel is pronounced /oʊ/ rather than /əʊ/.
Easily confused with gloating
Gloating means taking smug pleasure in someone else's misfortune, whereas floating means being suspended in or moving upon a liquid or in the air.