prestigious

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /pɹɛˈstiːd͡ʒəs/ UK /pɹɛˈstɪd͡ʒəs/ See IPA manual

Freq #14492

Meanings

1

adj
Respected and admired as being very important or of high quality.

She has a prestigious job at an international organization.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · respected and admired as... esteemedhonored

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

prestigious university
a university widely respected for its status or quality

Adjective + noun

Etymology

Attested since the 1540s; Latin praestigiosus (“full of tricks”), praestigiae (“juggler's tricks”), possibly an alteration of praestringō (“to blindfold, to dazzle”), from prae- (“before”) with stringō (“to bind or tie”); equivalent to prestige + -ious. Unstressed /ɛ/ is retained by analogy with prestige.

praestigiosus Latin

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Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# prestigious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /pɹɛˈstiːd͡ʒəs/
**IPA (UK):** /pɹɛˈstɪd͡ʒəs/
**Frequency rank:** 14492

## Meanings
1. Respected and admired as being very important or of high quality.

## Examples
- She has a prestigious job at an international organization.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: praestigiosus

## Etymology
Attested since the 1540s; Latin praestigiosus (“full of tricks”), praestigiae (“juggler's tricks”), possibly an alteration of praestringō (“to blindfold, to dazzle”), from prae- (“before”) with stringō (“to bind or tie”); equivalent to prestige + -ious. Unstressed /ɛ/ is retained by analogy with prestige.

## AI Etymology
Prestigious is attested since the 1540s; Latin praestigiosus (“full of tricks”), praestigiae (“juggler's tricks”), possibly an alteration of praestringō (“to blindfold, to dazzle”), from prae- (“before”) with stringō (“to bind or tie”); equivalent to prestige + -ious. Unstressed /ɛ/ is retained by analogy with prestige. In present-day English it covers respected and admired as being very important or of high quality.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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