emeritus
Syllables: eme·ri·tus/əˈmɛɹətəs//ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/
emeritus adjective: retired, but retaining an honorific version of a previous title.
Adjective
emeritus (not comparable, feminine singular emerita, masculine plural emeriti or (rare) emerituses, feminine plural emeritae)
Noun
emeritus (plural emeriti or emerituses)
- A (male) person who is retired from active service or an occupation, especially one who retains an honorific version of a previous title.
- Martin Engels said: “I am not posted on dyke-bridges, but if it is a Dutch scheme there may be something in it. That engineer made a mistake by calling the city officials emerituses. He should not call people names if he wants the Municipal Council to build his twenty-four-million-dollar bridge. If...1900 September 21, “Dyke-Bridge Proposed. Engineer Santi Wants to Unite Manhattan and Richmond Boroughs—Tammany Men’s Views.”, in The New York Times, volume L, number 15,820, New York, N.Y., page 11...
- Now, we have no criticism for college presidents and emerituses as such. A man may be all that and still be a pretty good fellow—whatever the effect might be on his character and happiness. But there is one thing certain—no one man can know it all.1914 February 15, “The Case of Dr. Eliot”, in The Topeka Daily Capital, volume XXXVII, number 362, Topeka, Kan., page 8 B, column 1
- An honorific version of a previous title.
- With a string of “emerituses” behind his name, last of which was acquired with the Welfare society resignation, [George Q.] Sheppard now lives in retirement in his home at The Hill, 722 King street.1941 May 31, Bob Zissa, “Typewriter Becomes His Best Pal: ‘It’s Easy to Learn to Loaf’, Declares Retired Hill Master”, in Pottstown Mercury, volume 10, number 210, Pottstown, Pa., page one, column 7
- NOW THE VENERABLE and distinguished First National Bank bossman has joined a distinguished league. To my knowledge, he shares his honors with two other distinguished Orlandoans — Dr. J. Powell Tucker, pastor emeritus of the First Baptist Church, and J. C. Brossier, editor emeritus of the Orlando...1961 August 15, Charlie Wadsworth, “Hush Puppies”, in Orlando Sentinel, volume 77, number 93, Orlando, Fla., pages 4—B, column 1
emeritus meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
emeritus in Hindi
- एमेरिटस, इमेरिटस
emeritus in Tamil
- மாண்புடன் ஓய்வு பெற்று, ஓய்வு பெற்ற
emeritus in Marathi
- एमेरिटस, एमेरिटस्
emeritus in Bengali
- এমেরিটাস, ইমেরিটাস
More languagesFewer languages
- emeritus in Telugu
- ఎమిరిటస్, ఎమెరిటస్
- emeritus in Malayalam
- എമെറിറ്റസ്, എമിരിറ്റസ്, എമെരിറ്റസ്
- emeritus in Kannada
- ವಿಶ್ರಾಂತ, ವಿಶ್ರಾಂತನಾದರೂ ಗೌರವ ಪದವಿಯನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ
- emeritus in Gujarati
- એમેરિટસ, ઇમેરિટસ
- emeritus in Odia
- ଏମେରିଟସ୍, ଇମେରିଟସ୍, ଏମେରିଟସ
- emeritus in Nepali
- एमेरिटस, इमेरिटस, एमेरिटस्
- emeritus in Tagalog
- higlingkurin
Examples of emeritus in a sentence
- I must confess that in such an answer I see nothing worthy of a philosopher; and should rather have looked for it from a literary petit-maître than from an emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy.1823, Thomas De Quincey, “Letters to a Young Man whose Education has been Neglected. Letter V.”, in Letters to a Young Man whose Education...
- An emeritus professorship of obstetrics.1837, Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New-York, Albany, N.Y.: […] Croswell, van Benthusyen and Burt, page 38:
- Paul is not a whit behind any of the apostles, or “Pastor Emerituses,” and is ready to meet all things on all occasions.1903, Peter Albert Petrie, “Christianity and Creeds”, in “Ye Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Free.”, Cincinnati, Oh....
- Flappers, ex-flappers, flapper emerituses!1926 November 28, Jane Corby, “Georgie Had Too Much Love: Lord Byron, as a Sheik, Was Deserving, It Is Claimed, Of More Sympathy Than...
Forms of emeritus
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| singular feminine | emerita |
| plural masculine | emeriti |
| plural feminine | emeritae |
| plural masculine (rare) | emerituses |
| Noun | |
| plural | emeriti |
| plural | emerituses |
Origin of emeritus
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin ēmeritus (“(having been) earned, (having been) merited; (having been) served, having done one’s service”), the perfect passive participle of ēmereō (“to earn, merit; to gain by service; (military) to complete one’s obligation to serve, to serve out one’s time”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + mereō (“to deserve, merit; to acquire, earn, get, obtain; to render service to; to serve”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot; to assign”)). The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural form emeriti is borrowed from Latin ēmeritī.
Words that rhyme with emeritus
Questions about emeritus
- What does emeritus mean?
- Emeritus means retired, but retaining an honorific version of a previous title.
- What is emeritus in Hindi?
- Emeritus in Hindi is एमेरिटस, इमेरिटस. See Emeritus meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use emeritus in a sentence?
- I must confess that in such an answer I see nothing worthy of a philosopher; and should rather have looked for it from a literary petit-maître than from an emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy.
- What part of speech is emeritus?
- Emeritus can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce emeritus?
- Emeritus is pronounced /ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/ (UK).
Words near emeritus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: emeritus (page history and authors); emeritus (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); emeritus (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); emeritus (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); emeritus (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-emeritus.wav, En-us-emeriti.oga.
Cite this entry: “emeritus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/emeritus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.