Friday, July 31, 2015

honorable, honorific

Honorable or honorable means upright or highly principled--
"So are they all, all, honorable men..."
He was an honorable man, and always did the upright thing.

Honorable may also mean noble or artisocratic, used as a form of address for the opffspring of British peers--
The Honorable John Smith will attend.

Honorific or honorific means a formal title of address, or a title of respect--
To many people, the use of an honorific in writing is archaic.
Should we include a drop-down menu to choose an honorific?

Now that you know that, you can say--
"The honorific given to a judge in the United States is The Honorable.

No comments:

Post a Comment