honorable

English

Alternative forms

• honble (obsolete)
• Honorable (honorific)
• (British spelling:) honourable, Honourable (honorific)

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ŏnʹərəbl, ŏnʹrəbl, IPA^(key): /ˈɒn.ə ɹəbl̩/, /ˈɒn.ɹəbl̩/
• (General American) enPR: ŏnʹərəbl, ŏnʹrəbl, IPA^(key): /ˈɑn.ə.ɹəbl̩/, /ˈɑn.ɹəbl̩/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: hon‧or‧able, honor‧able

Adjective

honorable (comparative more honorable, superlative most honorable) (American spelling)

1. Behaving in a manner that shows honor; decent, having integrity.
2. Worthy of respect; respectable.

   Synonyms: estimable, noble, venerable; see also Thesaurus:respectable

   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.

3. 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.

4. (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.

   Synonyms: (abbreviation) Hon'ble, (abbreviation) Hon.

   • 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 […]

5. A courtesy title, given in the United Kingdom to all sons and daughters of viscounts and barons and to the younger sons of earls.

Usage notes

• Historically used in the United States (early 1900s) in mockery of Japanese and Chinese people (or honorable Japs).

Derived terms

• amende honorable
• Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles
• do the honorable thing
• Hon., Hon'ble, Honourable
• Honorable Colonel
• honorable discharge
• honorable mention
• honorableness
• honorably, honourably
• (politics): right honorable, right honourable
• unhonorable

Translations

worthy of respect — see also honorous,‎ honored

• Armenian: պատվարժան (hy) (patvaržan)
• Belarusian: шляхе́тны (šljaxjétny), паважа́ны (pavažány), шано́ўны (šanówny), пачэ́сны (pačésny)
• Bulgarian: уважа́ем (bg) (uvažáem), достопочте́н (bg) (dostopočtén), почте́н (bg) (počtén)
• Catalan: honorable (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可敬 (zh) (kějìng)

• Czech: ctihodný
• Dutch: eervol (nl), hooggeacht (nl) (minister, governor constituent country), hoogedelgestreng (nl) (member of parliament, provincial governor), edelachtbaar (nl) (mayor)
• Esperanto: honorinda
• Finnish: kunnioitettava (fi), kunnianarvoisa
• French: honorable (fr)
• Galician: honorable (gl)
• Georgian: პატივცემული (ṗaṭivcemuli)
• German: ehrbar (de)
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌸𐍃 (gariuþs)
• Greek: αξιότιμος (el) (axiótimos), εντιμότατος (entimótatos)

  Ancient Greek: τίμιος (tímios)

• Hungarian: tiszteletreméltó (hu)
• Italian: onorevole (it), onorabile (it)
• Japanese: 偉い (ja) (erai), 素晴らしい (ja) (subarashii), 立派な (ja) (rippa na)
• Kazakh: мәртебелі (märtebeli)
• Latin: honōrābilis, honestus
• Malayalam: ബഹുമാനപ്പെട്ട (ml) (bahumānappeṭṭa), ആദരണീയനായ m (ādaraṇīyanāya)
• Māori: whakahōnore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hederlig, ærverdig, respektabel

• Occitan: onorable (oc)
• Old English: ārfæst
• Polish: czcigodny (pl), szanowny (pl), dostojny (pl)
• Portuguese: honorável (pt)
• Romanian: onorabil (ro)
• Russian: благоро́дный (ru) (blagoródnyj), уважа́емый (ru) (uvažájemyj), почте́нный (ru) (počténnyj), почётный (ru) (počótnyj)
• Sanskrit: प्रमुख (sa) (pramukha)
• Scottish Gaelic: onarach
• Spanish: honorable (es), honrable
• Swedish: hedervärd (sv), ärevördig
• Tagalog: kagalang-galang
• Telugu: గౌరవనీయ (gauravanīya)
• Turkish: saygıdeğer (tr)
• Ukrainian: благоро́дний (uk) (blahoródnyj), шляхе́тний (šljaxétnyj), поважа́ний (považányj), шано́ваний (šanóvanyj), поче́сний (počésnyj), пошти́вий (poštývyj), шано́вний (uk) (šanóvnyj)
• Uzbek: ulug’

Noun

honorable (plural honorables)

1. 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

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin honōrābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [u.nuˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [o.noˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [o.noˈɾa.ble]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [o.noˈɾab.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

honorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural honorables)

1. honorable

Derived terms

• honorablement

Further reading

• “honorable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “honorable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “honorable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “honorable”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French honorable, honurable, borrowed from Latin honōrābilis.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /ɔ.nɔ.ʁabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Adjective

honorable (plural honorables)

1. honorable

Derived terms

• faire amende honorable
• hon.
• très honorable

Related terms

• honneur

Further reading

• “honorable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Galician

Alternative forms

• honorábel

Etymology

From Latin honōrābilis.

Adjective

honorable m or f (plural honorables)

1. honorable

Related terms

• honor
• honra

Further reading

• “honorable”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin honōrābilis. Equivalent to honor +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /onoˈɾable/ [o.noˈɾa.β̞le]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: ho‧no‧ra‧ble

Adjective

honorable m or f (masculine and feminine plural honorables)

1. honorable

   Alternative form: honrable

   Synonyms: honrado, honesto

Derived terms

• honorabilidad
• honorablemente

Related terms

• honor
• honra
• honrar

Further reading

• “honorable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025