honourable

H4O1N1O1U1R1A1B3L1E1

adjective

UK standard spelling of honorable.

Less commonScrabble 15

Meanings

honourable1

adjectivehonourable (comparative more honourable, superlative most honourable)

comparative more honourable · superlative most honourable

  1. UK standard spelling of honorable.

    It was aptly said by Newton that "whatever is not deduced from facts must be regarded as hypothesis," but hypothesis appears to us a title too honourable for the crude guessings to which we allude.

    1846, George Luxford, Edward Newman, The Phytologist: a popular botanical miscellany: Volume 2, Part 2, page 474
    1 more example

    The days of steam on the railways of Kent are now indeed numbered, and when stage two of the electrification is completed through Tonbridge to Ashford, Folkestone and Dover a long and honourable chapter in transport will be virtually closed.

    1959 October 28, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, pages 705, 724
nounhonourable (plural honourables)

plural honourables

  1. UK standard spelling of honorable.

    So she invites her father and sister to a second day's dinner (if those sides, or ontrys, as she calls 'em, weren't served yesterday, I'm d—d), and to meet City folks and littery men, and keeps the Earls and the Ladies, and the Honourables to herself.

    1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

Honourable2

adjective
  1. Alternative letter-case form of honourable.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveworthy of being honored; entitled to honor and respect

adjectiveadhering to ethical and moral principles

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinhonōrābilis
  2. Old Frenchhonorable
  3. Middle Englishhonourable
  4. Englishhonourable

From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honour + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

honourable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/honourable

MLA

“honourable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/honourable. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “honourable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/honourable.

Source: honourable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.