Magnificency

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being impressive, rich and grand in appearance, often through lavish display or beauty
2. Stately splendour and impressive grandeur, especially in buildings, ceremonies or displays of wealth
3. An awe-inspiring richness and majesty of appearance that commands admiration from those who see it

Etymology: "Magnificency" is an obsolete spelling of "magnificence," and its story is essentially the story of that longer word. The Latin "magnificentia" combined "magnus," meaning great, with the "-ficentia" element from "facere," to make or do, so the literal sense is something like "great-making" or "the quality of doing great things." Latin used the word for generosity and grand display, a sense that carried into its descendants. The word reached English through Old French "magnificence," which Middle English borrowed in its turn. In English it first described lavish, generous conduct, and only gradually came to mean the splendour of a grand building, ceremony, or scene that we associate with it today. The "-ency" ending in this spelling was an English variant of "-ence," used alongside it for centuries before the "-ence" form became standard.

Synonyms: magnificence, splendor, grandeur

Antonyms: squalor