honorary

English

Alternative forms

• honourary (archaic)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑn.əˌɹɛɹ.i/, enPR: ŏnʹə-rĕr'ē

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From honor +‎ -ary, modelled after French honoraire, from Latin honōrārius.

Adjective

honorary (not comparable)

1. Given as an honor/honour, with no duties attached, and without payment.

   honorary degree; honorary citizen

2. Voluntary.
3. Unofficial; practically. Describes the holder of an unofficial position or title that is assigned as a special honor rather than by normal channels.

   Megsie is an honorary employee because she helps other customers while she shops here.

   I consider you an honorary member of our family because you've been with us for so long.

Derived terms

• honorary Aryan
• honorary authorship
• honorary consul
• honorary consulate
• honorary doctor
• honorary doctorate
• honorary mention
• honorary officer
• honorary steam engine
• honorary steam locomotive
• honorary title
• honorary trust

 

Translations

given as an honor

• Arabic: فَخْرِيّ (faḵriyy)
• Armenian: պատվաբեր (hy) (patvaber)
• Azerbaijani: fəxri
• Bulgarian: почетен (bg) (početen)
• Catalan: honorari (ca)
• Czech: čestný (cs) m
• Finnish: kunnia- (fi)
• French: honoris causa (fr)
• German: Ehren-, ehrenhalber (de) (postpositioned)
• Hindi: आनरेरी (hi) m (ānrerī), अवैतनिक (hi) m (avaitnik)
• Hungarian: címzetes (hu), (of a doctor) honoris causa (hu)
• Indonesian: honorer (id)
• Italian: onorativo (it)
• Latin: honōrārius
• Macedonian: почесен m (počesen)
• Malay: kehormat
• Nepali: अवैतनिक (hi) (avaitnik)
• Polish: honorowy (pl), nominalny (pl), tytularny (pl)
• Portuguese: honorário (pt)
• Russian: почётный (ru) (počótnyj)
• Spanish: honorario
• Swedish: heders- (sv)
• Turkish: fahri (tr)
• Ukrainian: поче́сний (počésnyj)
• Uzbek: faxriy (uz)

voluntary — see also voluntary

• German: Ehren-, ehrenhalber (de) (postpositioned), ehrenamtlich (de)

describes the holder of a position

• Catalan: honorari (ca)
• Finnish: kunnia- (fi)
• German: Ehren-
• Hindi: आनरेरी (hi) m (ānrerī), अवैतनिक (hi) m (avaitnik)
• Hungarian: tiszteletbeli (hu), (as of a citizen) dísz- (hu)
• Nepali: अवैतनिक (hi) (avaitnik)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: honorær

  Nynorsk: honorær

Noun

honorary (plural honoraries)

1. A person who holds an honorary appointment.
2. (US) A kind of secret society that operates in name only, with membership given to honor some achievement.

Etymology 2

From Latin honōrārium.

Noun

honorary (plural honoraries)

1. An honorarium; a fee for services of no fixed value.