venerable

From Middle French vénérable, from Old French, from Latin venerabilis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛnəɹəbl/, /ˈvɛnɹəbl/

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venerable (comparative more venerable, superlative most venerable)

1. Commanding respect because of age, dignity, character or position.
   • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.

2. Worthy of reverence.

   Synonyms: honorable, respectable

   Antonym: contemptible

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 194, column 1:

     We looked at the venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs for ever, but in the pacific yet august light of abiding memories.

3. Ancient, antiquated or archaic.

   Synonyms: aged, dated, hoary; see also Thesaurus:old, Thesaurus:obsolete

   • 1894 December – 1895 November, Thomas Hardy, chapter VI, in Jude the Obscure, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1896, →OCLC, part V (At Aldbrickham and Elswhere), page 360:

     And then bills were sent in, and the question arose, what could Jude do with his great-aunt's heavy old furniture if he left the town to travel he knew not whither? This, and the necessity of ready money, compelled him to decide on an auction, much as he would have preferred to keep the venerable goods.

4. Made sacred especially by religious or historical association.
5. Giving an impression of aged goodness and benevolence.

Borrowed from Latin venerābilis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bə.nəˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [və.nəˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ve.neˈɾa.ble]

venerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural venerables)

1. venerable

• venerablement

• venerabilitat
• venerar

• “venerable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “venerable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “venerable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “venerable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Latin venerābilis.

• IPA^(key): /beneˈɾable/ [be.neˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: ve‧ne‧ra‧ble

venerable m or f (masculine and feminine plural venerables)

1. venerable

• “venerable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28