honorable

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“I honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. Synchronically analyzable as honor +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ŏnʹərəbl, ŏnʹrəbl, IPA^(key): /ˈɒnəɹəbl̩/, /ˈɒnɹəbl̩/
• (General American) enPR: ŏnʹərəbl, ŏnʹrəbl, IPA^(key): /ˈɑnəɹəbl̩/, /ˈɑnɹəbl̩/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

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

Adjective

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

1. Worthy of respect; respectable.
2. (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

• venerable
• noble

Antonyms

• despicable
• contemptible
• mean

Derived terms

• honorably, honourably
• (politics): right honorable, right honourable

Translations

worthy of respect

• Armenian: պատվարժան (hy) (patvaržan)
• Bulgarian: уважаем (bg) (uvažaem), достопочтен (bg) (dostopočten)
• Catalan: honorable (ca)
• Czech: ctihodný
• Dutch: eervol (nl)
• Finnish: kunnioitettava (fi), kunnianarvoisa
• French: honorable (fr)
• Galician: honorable (gl)
• Georgian: პატივცემული (ṗaṭivcemuli)
• German: ehrbar (de)
• Greek: αξιότιμος (el) (axiótimos), εντιμότατος (entimótatos)

  Ancient: 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
• Maori: whakahōnore
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hederlig, ærverdig, respektabel

• Novial: honorabli
• 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)
• Spanish: honorable (es), honroso
• Swedish: hedervärd (sv)
• Telugu: గౌరవనీయ (gauravanīya)

---

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin honōrābilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /o.noˈɾa.blə/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /u.nuˈɾa.blə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /o.noˈɾa.ble/

Adjective

honorable (masculine and feminine plural honorables)

1. honorable

Derived terms

• honorablement

Further reading

• “honorable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “honorable” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “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

Etymology

From Old French [Term?], borrowed from Latin honōrābilis.

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /ɔ.nɔ.ʁabl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

honorable (plural honorables)

1. honorable

Related terms

• honneur

Further reading

• “honorable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

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, Royal Galician Academy.

---

Spanish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /onoˈɾable/, [onoˈɾaβle]

Adjective

honorable (plural honorables)

1. honorable

Derived terms

• honorablemente

Related terms

• honor
• honra
• honrar

Further reading

• “honorable” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.