venerable means commanding respect because of age, dignity, character or position. It carries an Arena rating of 1742, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, venerable ranks #1,474 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,923 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,165 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #4,747 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
venerable is pronounced /ˈvɛnəɹəbl/.
Why “venerable” is a great word
Worthy of profound respect or reverence, especially due to great age, dignity, character, or high position. From Middle French vénérable, from Old French, from Latin venerabilis, from venerari ("to worship, revere"). Unlike "revered," which names the feeling of worshipful respect directed toward something, or "aged," which merely notes the passage of years, "venerable" describes an inherent quality that commands such regard. It is the oak whose trunk has grown too broad for two arms to encircle; the handwritten ledger in a monastery's scriptorium, its ink faded to the color of weak tea; the particular silence that settles when a person of tested wisdom begins to speak—the accumulated weight of time transformed, by character, into something that asks to be approached with lowered voice.
Etymology
From Middle French vénérable, from Old French, from Latin venerabilis.
adj
- Commanding respect because of age, dignity, character or position.
- Worthy of reverence.e.g.“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.” — 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, col
- Ancient, antiquated or archaic.
- Made sacred especially by religious or historical association.
- Giving an impression of aged goodness and benevolence.
- A form of address for an archdeacon in the Anglican Church.
- The description in the Roman Catholic Church of someone in the first stages of canonisation.
- The description of some saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
noun
- A title indicating respect, prefixed to the names of Buddhist monks and nuns.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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