honorable

B2 Topic:Ethics & Social Judgment

Also spelled honourable

US /ˈɑn.ə.ɹəbl̩/ UK /ˈɒn.ə ɹəbl̩/ See IPA manual

adj noun Freq #6028

Meanings

1

adj
Deserving respect and praise.

Helping others without reward is an honorable thing to do.
2

adj
Behaving in a fair, moral, and trustworthy way.

He is too honorable to cheat anyone.
3

adj
Used as a formal title for certain officials, such as ministers or judges.

The Honorable Member of Parliament rose to speak.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · deserving respect and praise. honourableadmirable

2 adj · behaving in a fair, moral,... honest ethical

3 adj · used as a formal title for... hon.

Word family

Derived forms hon'blehonorableness honorablyhonourablehonourablyunhonorable

Etymology

From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honor + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.

honourable Middle English honorable Old French honōrābilis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Ethics & Social Judgment Register & Style

# honorable

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˈɑn.ə.ɹəbl̩
**IPA (UK):** ˈɒn.ə ɹəbl̩
**Frequency rank:** 6028

## Meanings
1. Deserving respect and praise.
2. Behaving in a fair, moral, and trustworthy way.
3. Used as a formal title for certain officials, such as ministers or judges.

## Examples
- Helping others without reward is an honorable thing to do.
- He is too honorable to cheat anyone.
- The Honorable Member of Parliament rose to speak.

## Derived Forms
- hon'ble
- honorableness
- honorably
- honourable
- honourably
- unhonorable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: honourable
- Root: honorable
- Root: honōrābilis

## Etymology
From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honor + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.

## AI Etymology
Honorable comes from Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honor + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. In current use, the main senses are “Deserving respect and praise” and “Behaving in a fair, moral, and trustworthy way”.

## Topics
- Ethics & Social Judgment
- Register & Style

markdown

honorable

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback