gloating

American  

[gloh-ting] / ˈgloʊ tɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of looking at or speaking or thinking about something with excessive, usually smug or malicious satisfaction.

   For all our gloating about how progressive we are on issues of race and sexual orientation, we lag behind on some other human rights issues.

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adjective

1. looking at or speaking or thinking about something in this way.

   Asked about the protester's arrest, the mayor said with a gloating smile, "I wish him luck.”

Other Word Forms

• gloatingly adverb
• ungloating adjective

Etymology

Origin of gloating

First recorded in 1575–85; gloat ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun; gloat ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective

Example Sentences

I won’t join in the gloating of some critics at the hundreds who have lost their jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Back in the 1990s, the California-as-disaster-epic narrative was tinged with some gloating — a comeuppance for a star-making destination that for decades was America’s post-war wonderland.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2024

Panic and gloating go viral; reality-based exposition doesn’t.

From Slate • May 15, 2024

I saw McCaskill gloating in her weigh-in - she ate pizza - I think that shows a bit of arrogance.

From BBC • May 11, 2024

If someone had asked her, a month or even a week before, to guess what she might have felt, she might have anticipated a sliver of gloating, or at least a moment of holier-than-thou.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng