honorable
English
editAlternative forms
edit- honble (obsolete)
- Honorable (honorific)
- (British spelling:) honourable, Honourable (honorific)
Etymology
editFrom Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“I honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honor + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ŏnʹərəbl, ŏnʹrəbl, IPA(key): /ˈɒnəɹəbl̩/, /ˈɒnɹəbl̩/
- (General American) enPR: ŏnʹərəbl, ŏnʹrəbl, IPA(key): /ˈɑnəɹəbl̩/, /ˈɑnɹəbl̩/
- Hyphenation: hon‧or‧able, honor‧able
Adjective
edithonorable (comparative more honorable, superlative most honorable) (American spelling)
- Behaving in a manner that shows honor; decent, having integrity.
- Worthy of respect; respectable.
- Synonyms: noble, venerable
- Antonyms: contemptible, despicable, mean
- 1887, The Popular Science Monthly, volume 31, page 629:
- In confinement ladies are attended, not by the ordinary doctors, but by women especially devoted to the calling, who regard their profession as honorable and humanitary.
- Complying with cultural rules regarding honor; not provoking shame or disgrace.
- That culture considered it no disgrace to be defeated in honorable combat.
- 1943, Korean Research Bulletin, volumes 1-2, page 20:
- Luxury was abolished. People lived in honorable marriage. All the women were chaste, faithful, and far from wantoners.
- (politics) A courtesy title, given in Britain and the Commonwealth to a cabinet minister, minister of state, or senator, and in the United States to the president, vice president, congresspeople, state governors and legislators, and mayors.
- 1872, Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, The Unkind Word, and Other Stories, page 145:
- Uncheered by friends, unhissed by foes, the honorable member blandly continued his speech […]
Usage notes
edit- Historically used in the United States (early 1900s) in mockery of Japanese and Chinese people (or honorable Japs).
Derived terms
editTranslations
edit
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Noun
edithonorable (plural honorables)
- A politician or other person who bears the title of "honorable".
- 1959, American Journal of Psychotherapy, volume 13, page 111:
- These included a reception for the Congress participants, given by the city of Barcelona in a 14th century palace, with guards making room for the mayor and other honorables, […]
Catalan
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin honōrābilis.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): (Central) [u.nuˈɾab.blə]
- IPA(key): (Balearic) [o.noˈɾab.blə]
- IPA(key): (Valencia) [o.noˈɾa.ble]
Adjective
edithonorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural honorables)
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “honorable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “honorable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “honorable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “honorable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French
editEtymology
editInherited from Old French [Term?], borrowed from Latin honōrābilis.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
edithonorable (plural honorables)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “honorable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Galician
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Latin honōrābilis.
Adjective
edithonorable m or f (plural honorables)
Related terms
editFurther reading
edit- “honorable”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024
Spanish
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin honōrābilis. Equivalent to honor + -able.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /onoˈɾable/ [o.noˈɾa.β̞le]
Audio (Colombia): (file) - Rhymes: -able
- Syllabification: ho‧no‧ra‧ble
Adjective
edithonorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural honorables)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “honorable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
- English terms inherited from Middle English
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- Rhymes:Spanish/able
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