lofty
UK/ˈlɒfti//ˈlɔːfti/
lofty adjective: high, tall, having great height or stature.
Adjective
lofty (comparative loftier, superlative loftiest)
- High, tall, having great height or stature.
- The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv
- On my left was a river, which came roaring down from a range of lofty mountains right before me to the south-east.1862, George Borrow, chapter 98, in Wild Wales, archived from the original on 24 Dec 2011
- Idealistic, implying over-optimism.
- a lofty goal
- A goal from Steven Caulker, just after the hour mark, was enough to hand victory to Malky Mackay's men, with Swansea falling some way short of the lofty standards they have set previously at this level.3 November 2013, Delme Parfitt, “Cardiff City 1 - 0 Swansea City: Steven Caulker heads Bluebirds to South Wales derby win”, in Wales Online
- Extremely proud; arrogant; haughty.
- that lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books
Proper noun capitalized: Lofty
Lofty
- nickname for a tall (usually male) person
lofty meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Kannada and Sanskrit
lofty in Urdu
- عظیم, باوقار, بالا, بلند, فراز, مغرور
lofty in Malayalam
- വളരെ ഉയർന്ന, ഉദാത്തമായ, പ്രൗഢമായ, ഉന്നതമായ
lofty in Kannada
- ಅತ್ಯುನ್ನತ, ಉತ್ತುಂಗ, ಅತ್ಯುಚ್ಚ, ಗರ್ವಿಷ್ಠ, ಪ್ರತಿಷ್ಠೆಯ, ದುರಹಂಕಾರದ
lofty in Sanskrit
- lofty, high, tall
- दीर्घ dīrghá
- lofty
- उदार udārá
More languagesFewer languages
- lofty in Arabic
- شَاهِق šāhiq
Examples of lofty in a sentence
- When the night was half spent, I rose and walked on, till the day broke in all its beauty and the sun rose over the heads of the lofty hills and athwart the low gravelly plains.1885, Richard F. Burton, “Night 551”, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
- He reiterated his lofty goals “to make life multiplanetary.”2026 June 12, Bernard Condon, “SpaceX stock soars in debut and makes Elon Musk the first trillionaire”, in AP News, archived from the...
Synonyms of lofty
Antonyms
Forms of lofty
| comparative | loftier |
|---|---|
| superlative | loftiest |
Origin of lofty
From Middle English lofty, lofti, lofte (“of high rank; noble; ornate”), equivalent to loft (“sky, firmament; upper room”) + -y.
From lofty.
Words formed from lofty
Phrases with lofty
Questions about lofty
- What does lofty mean?
- Lofty means high, tall, having great height or stature.
- What is lofty in Urdu?
- Lofty in Urdu is عظیم, باوقار, بالا. See Lofty meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use lofty in a sentence?
- When the night was half spent, I rose and walked on, till the day broke in all its beauty and the sun rose over the heads of the lofty hills and athwart the low gravelly plains.
- What part of speech is lofty?
- Lofty can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce lofty?
- Lofty is pronounced /ˈlɒfti/ (UK).
Words near lofty in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lofty (page history and authors); Lofty (page history and authors); lofty (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lofty (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lofty (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); उदार (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lofty.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lofty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lofty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.