Honorific

//ˌɒnəˈɹɪfɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person's title, such as "Mrs" or "Doctor".
  2. 2
    an expression of respect wordnet
  3. 3
    A term of respect; respectful language.
  4. 4
    A word or word form expressing the speaker's respect for the hearer or the referent.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Showing or conferring honour and respect.

    "According to Pliny, the custom of setting up honorific statues on columns was a comparably ancient one."

  2. 2
    Based on or valuing honor

    "In the honorific cultural process, individuals (especially men) are extremely sensitive to real or perceived insults, and […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    conferring or showing honor or respect wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
respectfulappellationappellativeattentivebinomenbinomial name

Example

More examples

"The Japanese language has honorific expressions."

Etymology

From honor + -ific.

Related phrases

honorific transposition

More for "honorific"

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