Triumphal vs Triumphant: Here’s the Difference in Meaning with Sentence Examples

The adjectives, triumphal and triumphant, have close meanings, but are different, and triumphant is much more commonly used than triumphal.

Triumphant means victorious (“having victory”) while triumphal means “relating to victory”:

The rebels were triumphant; they drove the government forces from the city.

They celebrated their victory with a triumphal dinner.

Of course, in many cases, both words could work:

Lana wore a triumphal/triumphant smile on her face, after the victory.

The list of her triumphal/triumphant accomplishments was impressive.

In fact, triumphant can be used to mean triumphal, but not the other way around:

There was a triumphal/triumphant parade when we won the war.

Greg was famous for always being *triumphal/triumphant in battle.

Since you cannot use triumphal to mean triumphant, triumphant ends up being the much more commonly used word.

More Examples of “Triumphal” in a Sentence

1. At the end of a windy car park, the triumphal Tesco sign loomed.
2. A triumphal arch was recently erected in Skopje, Macedonia’s capital.
3. The other end would sit in Mexico, on the Avenue of Heroes, whose triumphal arch is visible across the border.
4. So I don’t think it’s a triumphal moment from an actor’s point of view.
5. The final years didn’t amount to much more than a triumphal march.

More Examples of “Triumphant” in a Sentence

1. It was a triumphant moment, unlike any stunt performed on the show before.
2. On occasion, though, the big, bad society ends up triumphant in these narratives.
3. And in earlier historical periods, legions of triumphant soldiers marched through American streets.
4. I’ve been privileged to tell a lot of triumphant basketball stories over the past decade.
5. To emerge triumphant, they must run a gauntlet that just keeps getting tougher.