prestigious

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

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

   She has a prestigious job at an international organization.

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.

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