ILLUSTRIOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does illustrious mean? 

• ILLUSTRIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective ILLUSTRIOUS has 2 senses:

1. widely known and esteemed

2. having or conferring glory

  Familiarity information: ILLUSTRIOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ILLUSTRIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Widely known and esteemed

Synonyms:

celebrated; famed; famous; far-famed; illustrious; notable; noted; renowned

Context example:

a renowned painter

Similar:

known (apprehended with certainty)

Derivation:

illustriousness (the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having or conferring glory

Context example:

an illustrious achievement

Similar:

glorious (having or deserving or conferring glory)

Derivation:

illustriousness (the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence)

 Context examples 

“You number yourself in an illustrious company by dipping your finger and thumb into it,” said he.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have not seen a man who, if he turns his talents that way, was more calculated to fill the gap left by the illustrious Moriarty.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We visited the tomb of the illustrious Hampden and the field on which that patriot fell.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“A savage?” said I, linking my facts after the fashion of my illustrious friend.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some perplexity from it to my illustrious client.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Without the consent of this illustrious body, no law can be enacted, repealed, or altered: and these nobles have likewise the decision of all our possessions, without appeal.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This was bad enough; but, as the philosophic Dane observes, with that universal applicability which distinguishes the illustrious ornament of the Elizabethan Era, worse remains behind!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

What relates to yourself, is as follows: 'Having thus offered you the sincere congratulations of Mrs. Collins and myself on this happy event, let me now add a short hint on the subject of another; of which we have been advertised by the same authority. Your daughter Elizabeth, it is presumed, will not long bear the name of Bennet, after her elder sister has resigned it, and the chosen partner of her fate may be reasonably looked up to as one of the most illustrious personages in this land.'

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

My powerful and illustrious master, he began, Charles, King of Navarre, Earl of Evreux, Count of Champagne, who also writeth himself Overlord of Bearn, hereby sends his love and greetings to his dear cousin Edward, the Prince of Wales, Governor of Aquitaine, Grand Commander of—

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case in my hands.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)