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ILLUSTRIOUS
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having or conferring glory
Example:
an illustrious achievement
Classified under:
Similar:
glorious (having or deserving or conferring glory)
Derivation:
illustriousness (the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Widely known and esteemed
Example:
a renowned painter
Synonyms:
celebrated; famed; famous; far-famed; illustrious; notable; noted; renowned
Classified under:
Similar:
known (apprehended with certainty)
Derivation:
illustriousness (the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence)
Context examples:
My feelings are profound, but I possessed a coolness of judgment that fitted me for illustrious achievements.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
He expressed his pleasure at seeing so many good sportsmen under one roof, and acknowledged the honour which had been done both to his guests and himself by the presence there that night of the illustrious personage whom he should refer to as the Earl of Chester.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I entreated this illustrious person, to intercede in my behalf with his majesty, for leave to depart; which he accordingly did, as he was pleased to tell me, with regret: for indeed he had made me several offers very advantageous, which, however, I refused, with expressions of the highest acknowledgment.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
My dear madam, returned Mr. Micawber, perhaps I cannot better express the conclusion at which Mrs. Micawber, your humble servant, and I may add our children, have jointly and severally arrived, than by borrowing the language of an illustrious poet, to reply that our Boat is on the shore, and our Bark is on the sea.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe in silence and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was one of the many curious fashions which have now died out, that men who were blasé from luxury and high living seemed to find a fresh piquancy in life by descending to the lowest resorts, so that the night-houses and gambling-dens in Covent Garden or the Haymarket often gathered illustrious company under their smoke-blackened ceilings.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They would often strip me naked from top to toe, and lay me at full length in their bosoms; wherewith I was much disgusted because, to say the truth, a very offensive smell came from their skins; which I do not mention, or intend, to the disadvantage of those excellent ladies, for whom I have all manner of respect; but I conceive that my sense was more acute in proportion to my littleness, and that those illustrious persons were no more disagreeable to their lovers, or to each other, than people of the same quality are with us in England.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
The one, austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed, and dominant, was none other than the illustrious Lord Bellinger, twice Premier of Britain.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I then spoke at large upon the constitution of an English parliament; partly made up of an illustrious body called the House of Peers; persons of the noblest blood, and of the most ancient and ample patrimonies.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Moriarty himself is enough to make any letter illustrious, and here is Morgan the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory, and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our friend of to-night.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
