laureate means crowned, or decked, with laurel. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 76 out of 100.
laureate is pronounced /ˈlɒɹ.i.ət/.
Why “laureate” is a great word
LAUREATE — [Adjective, Noun, Verb] Crowned or honored with laurel as a mark of distinction, especially for poetic or scholarly achievement. From the Latin laureatus ("crowned with laurel"), from laurea ("laurel crown, wreath") + -atus (adjectival suffix indicating possession), ultimately from laurus ("laurel"). First attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike "honoree," a general term for any award recipient, or "graduate," which merely denotes the completion of study, "laureate" evokes the specific, ceremonial weight of the ancient wreath. It is the imagined pressure of woven leaves on a poet’s brow, the dry rustle of bay branches in a forgotten grove, and the astringent scent of dried leaves crumbling to dust—a tangible emblem of glory that has outlived its substance, leaving only the honor in its wake.
Etymology
First attested during the end of the 15th century, in Middle English; borrowed from Latin laureātus, from laurea (“laurel crown, wreath”, a high reward given to poets and later to the triumphant) + -ātus (forming adjectives indicating possession) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from laureus (“of laurel”), from laurus (“laurel”). The verb was formed by metanalysis, see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Cognate with French lauréat.
adj
- Crowned, or decked, with laurel.“To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies.”
noun
- One crowned with laurel, such as a poet laureate or Nobel laureate.“a learn'd laureate”
- A graduate of a university.
verb
- To honor with a wreath of laurel, as formerly was done in bestowing a degree at English universities.