illustrious
Syllables: il·lus·tri·ousUK/ɪˈlʌs.tɹɪ.əs/US/ɪˈlʌs.tɹi.əs/
illustrious adjective: admired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.
Adjective
illustrious (comparative more illustrious, superlative most illustrious)
- Admired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.
- A solid and substantial greatness of soul looks down, with a generous neglect, on the censures and applauses of the multitude, and places a man beyond the little noise and strife of tongues. Accordingly we find in ourselves a secret awe and veneration for the character of one who moves above us, in...1712 January 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, December 22, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 255; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...
- Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 154
- Synonyms:
- forestanding, nameworthy, esteemed, well-regarded, distinguished, eminent, markworthy, mentionable, nameable, namely
- Antonyms:
- forgotten, overlooked, unadmired, undistinguished, unrespected
illustrious meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
illustrious in Hindi
- admired, respected, or well-known
- प्रसिद्ध prasiddh, विख्यात vikhyāt
illustrious in Tamil
- சிறப்பு வாய்ந்த, புகழ் விளங்கிய, புகழ்பெற்ற, மேதக்க
illustrious in Urdu
- illustrious, reputed
- وکھیات vikhyāt
- illustrious
- پرکھیات prakhyāt
illustrious in Bengali
- বিখ্যাত, স্বনামধন্য, উজ্জ্বল, প্রতাপশালী
More languagesFewer languages
- illustrious in Malayalam
- ശോഭനമായ, വിശ്രുതമായ, പുകൾപെറ്റ, വിശിഷ്ടം
- illustrious in Kannada
- ಹೆಸರಾಂತ, ಹೆಸರುವಾಸಿ, ಹೆಸರುವಾಸಿಯಾದ, ಸುಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ
- illustrious in Sanskrit
- कल्याण kalyā́ṇa
- illustrious in Arabic
- شَهِير šahīr, مَجِيد majīd
- illustrious in Vietnamese
- có tiếng, nổi tiếng, lừng lẫy, rạng rỡ
Synonyms of illustrious
- forestanding
- nameworthy
- esteemed
- well-regarded
- distinguished
- eminent
- markworthy
- mentionable
- nameable
- namely
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of illustrious
| comparative | more illustrious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most illustrious |
Origin of illustrious
From Latin illūstris (“bright, shining; distinguished, prominent, illustrious”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree). Illūstris is derived from illūstrō (“to brighten, illuminate; to make famous or illustrious”), from in- (“in, inside”) + lūstrō (“to purify by making a sacrifice; to brighten, illuminate”) (from lūstrō (“purificatory sacrifice”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”) or *lewh₃- (“to wash”)).
Words formed from illustrious
Questions about illustrious
- What does illustrious mean?
- Illustrious means admired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.
- What is illustrious in Hindi?
- Illustrious in Hindi is प्रसिद्ध (prasiddh), विख्यात (vikhyāt). See Illustrious meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is illustrious?
- Illustrious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce illustrious?
- Illustrious is pronounced /ɪˈlʌs.tɹɪ.əs/ (UK).
Words near illustrious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: illustrious (page history and authors); illustrious (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); وکھیات (Urdu) (page history and authors); Illustrious (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); illustrious (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); illustrious (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कल्याण (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). 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.
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Cite this entry: “illustrious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/illustrious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.