Laureate
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One crowned with laurel, such as a poet laureate or Nobel laureate. dated
"a learn'd laureate"
- 2 someone honored for great achievements; figuratively someone crowned with a laurel wreath wordnet
- 3 A graduate of a university.
- 1 To honor with a wreath of laurel, as formerly was done in bestowing a degree at English universities. intransitive
- 1 Crowned, or decked, with laurel. not-comparable, postpositional, sometimes
"To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies."
- 1 worthy of the greatest honor or distinction wordnet
Example
More examples"Professor Reinhard Selten, Nobel laureate in economics, said: Esperanto is good for the mind."
Etymology
First attested during the end of the 15th century, in Middle English; borrowed from Latin laureātus, from laurea (“laurel crown, wreath”, a high reward given to poets and later to the triumphant) + -ātus (forming adjectives indicating possession) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from laureus (“of laurel”), from laurus (“laurel”). The verb was formed by metanalysis, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French lauréat.
Related phrases
More for "laureate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.