English

Alternative forms

• honorifick (obsolete, rare)
• honourific (non‐standard)

Noun

honorific ‎(plural honorifics)

1. A title. (e.g., Mister, Misses, Doctor, Professor)
2. A term of respect; respectful language.
3. (linguistics) A word or word form expressing speaker's respect for the hearer or the referent.

Translations

Adjective

honorific ‎(comparative more honorific, superlative most honorific)

1. Showing or conferring honour and respect.
   • 1996, T. P. Wiseman, “The Minucii and Their Monument”, in Jerzy Linderski (editor), Imperium Sine Fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic, Franz Steiner Verlag, ISBN 978-3-515-06948-9, page 59:

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

2. Based on or valuing honor
   • 2010, Orlando Patterson, “The mechanisms of cultural reproduction: explaining the puzzle of persistence”, in John R. Hall et al. (editors), Handbook of Cultural Sociology, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-415-47445-0, page 143:

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

Derived terms

• honorifically

Antonyms

• derogatory