Meaning of miles gloriosus | Babel Free

Definitions

A standard character in ancient comedy and in modern comedy depicting ancient military figures: the bravado-filled, self-important, swaggering soldier.

literary

Examples

“[I]t of course ought not to be said that the General who assumes the responsibility behaved "generously" on one occasion and "magnanimously" upon another. About such expressions there is a reminiscence of the classical "Miles gloriosus" of the British Nelson, or of the American Winfield Scott.”

“He placed Falstaff in the tradition of the miles gloriosus, the type of rascally braggart soldier borrowed from Roman comedy.”

“It is possible, then, to read the text of 1 Henry IV as exploiting Hotspur's contradictions for maximum effect, producing a figure who is neither tragic hero, comic miles gloriosus, nor historical reenactment but exuberantly all three at once.”

CEFR level