adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A person who holds an honorary appointment.
2. 2
   An honorarium; a fee for services of no fixed value.
3. 3
   A kind of secret society that operates in name only, with membership given to honor some achievement. US

Adjective

1. 1
   Given as an honor/honour, with no duties attached, and without payment. not-comparable

   "honorary degree; honorary citizen"

2. 2
   Voluntary. not-comparable
3. 3
   Unofficial; practically. Describes the holder of an unofficial position or title that is assigned as a special honor rather than by normal channels. not-comparable

   "Megsie is an honorary employee because she helps other customers while she shops here."

Adjective

1. 1
   given as an honor without the normal duties wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

honorablehonorariumhonorificunearnedunpaidvoluntary

Example

More examples

"The college bestowed an honorary degree on him."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From honor + -ary, modelled after French honoraire, from Latin honōrārius.

Etymology 2

From Latin honōrārium.

Related phrases

honorary Aryanhonorary authorshiphonorary colonelhonorary consulhonorary consulatehonorary degreehonorary doctorhonorary doctoratehonorary masterhonorary master's degreehonorary mentionhonorary officer

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.