Meanings
comparative more illustrious · superlative most illustrious
- Admired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.First known use mid 16th c.
The ant has made himself illustrious / Through constant industry industrious. / So what? / Would you be calm and placid / If you were full of formic acid?
1941, Ogden Nash, “The Ant”, in The Face is Familiar: The Selected Verse of Ogden Nash, reprint edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 2243 more examples
A solid and substantial greatness of soul looks down, with a generous neglect, on the censures and applauses of the multitude, and places a man beyond the little noise and strife of tongues. Accordingly we find in ourselves a secret awe and veneration for the character of one who moves above us, in a regular and illustrious course of virtue, without any regard to our own good or ill opinions of him, to our reproaches or commendations.
1712 January 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, December 22, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 255; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, pages 127–128Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!
1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 154[Marcus] Rashford showed the fearless streak [Gareth] Southgate so admires with his constant willingness to run at Brazil's defence with pace, even demonstrating on occasion footwork that would not have been out of place from members of England's illustrious opposition.
2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0 – 0 Brazil”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 28 Mar 2018Synonyms: forestanding, nameworthy, esteemed, well-regarded, distinguished, eminent, forestanding, markworthy · Antonyms: forgotten, overlooked, unadmired, undistinguished, unrespected
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveAdmired, distinguished, respected, or well-known.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehaving or conferring glory
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*lewk-“bright; to shine”
- Latinillūstris“bright, shining; distinguished, prominent, illustrious”
- Englishillustrious
From Latin illūstris (“bright, shining; distinguished, prominent, illustrious”) + -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, to denote possession or presence of a quality in any degree). Illūstris is derived from illūstrō (“to brighten, illuminate; to make famous or illustrious”), from in- (“in, inside”) + lūstrō (“to purify by making a sacrifice; to brighten, illuminate”) (from lūstrō (“purificatory sacrifice”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”) or *lewh₃- (“to wash”)).
More words from Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἐπιφανής
- ἐπιφανής (epiphanḗs)admired, respected, or well-known
Arabic شَهِير, مَجِيد
- شَهِير (šahīr)admired, respected, or well-known
- مَجِيد (majīd)admired, respected, or well-known
Bulgarian знатен, прославен
- знатен (znaten)admired, respected, or well-known
- прославен (proslaven)admired, respected, or well-known
- знаменит (znamenit)admired, respected, or well-known
Catalan il·lustre
- il·lustreadmired, respected, or well-known
Chinese Mandarin 有名, 著名
- 有名 (yǒumíng)admired, respected, or well-known
- 著名 (zhùmíng)admired, respected, or well-known
- 優秀 /优秀 (yōuxiù)admired, respected, or well-known
- 輝煌 /辉煌 (huīhuáng)admired, respected, or well-known
- 燦爛 /灿烂 (cànlàn)admired, respected, or well-known
- 傑出 /杰出 (jiéchū)admired, respected, or well-known
Czech vynikající, význačný
- vynikajícíadmired, respected, or well-known
- význačnýadmired, respected, or well-known
- znamenitýadmired, respected, or well-known
- proslulýadmired, respected, or well-known
Dutch illuster, roemrijk
- illusteradmired, respected, or well-known
- roemrijkadmired, respected, or well-known
Estonian kuulus, väljapaistev
- kuulusadmired, respected, or well-known
- väljapaistevadmired, respected, or well-known
- silmapaistevadmired, respected, or well-known
- lugupeetavadmired, respected, or well-known
- auväärneadmired, respected, or well-known
- hiilgavadmired, respected, or well-known
Finnish valovoimainen
- valovoimainenadmired, respected, or well-known
French illustre
- illustreadmired, respected, or well-known
German glorreich, erlaucht
- glorreichadmired, respected, or well-known
- erlauchtadmired, respected, or well-known
Hindi प्रसिद्ध, विख्यात
- प्रसिद्ध (prasiddh)admired, respected, or well-known
- विख्यात (vikhyāt)admired, respected, or well-known
Hungarian előkelő
- előkelőadmired, respected, or well-known
Italian famoso
- famosoadmired, respected, or well-known
Latin pulchrum, illustris
- pulchrumadmired, respected, or well-known
- illustrisadmired, respected, or well-known
Māori taiea
- taieaadmired, respected, or well-known
Polish znamienity, wspaniały
- znamienityadmired, respected, or well-known
- wspaniałyadmired, respected, or well-known
Portuguese ilustre
- ilustreadmired, respected, or well-known
Russian знамени́тый, изве́стный
- знамени́тый (znamenítyj)admired, respected, or well-known
- изве́стный (izvéstnyj)admired, respected, or well-known
- просла́вленный (proslávlennyj)admired, respected, or well-known
- сла́вный (slávnyj)admired, respected, or well-known
Spanish ilustre, ínclito
- ilustreadmired, respected, or well-known
- ínclitoadmired, respected, or well-known
- preclaroadmired, respected, or well-known
Swedish illuster
- illusteradmired, respected, or well-known
Vietnamese có tiếng, nổi tiếng
- có tiếngadmired, respected, or well-known
- nổi tiếngadmired, respected, or well-known
- lừng lẫyadmired, respected, or well-known
- rạng rỡadmired, respected, or well-known
- vinh quangadmired, respected, or well-known
Cite this entry
illustrious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illustrious
“illustrious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illustrious. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “illustrious,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/illustrious.
Source: illustrious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.