celebrity
Americannoun
-
celebrities
plural
-
a famous or well-known person.
-
fame; renown.
- Synonyms:
- stardom, eminence, note, distinction
noun
-
a famous person
a show-business celebrity
-
fame or notoriety
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of celebrity
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin celebritās multitude, fame, festal celebration, equivalent to celebr- (stem of celeber ) often repeated, famous + -itās -ity
Explanation
A celebrity is a very famous person. If you single-handedly save an entire family from a burning building, you'll become a local celebrity. Celebrity comes directly from the Latin celebritatum, meaning famous, and is related to the verb celebrate which means to honor something with the proper ritual. We usually use celebrity now when we talk about entertainment stars, but someone doesn't have to be on the supermarket tabloids to be a celebrity. Celebrity can also be used to mean the state of fame. If you are seeking celebrity, develop a thick skin for nasty rumors.
Vocabulary lists containing celebrity
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
These Democrats now have a kind of odd celebrity.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2026
Lamarco and his firm have previously been drawn into court battles involving celebrity attorney Alex Spiro, and once generated a few media headlines after Lamarco challenged late-night host Jimmy Fallon to a $1 million bet.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
Press reports going back to last fall documented the celebrity CEO’s unusually close relationship with Chinese citizen Alice Huang, who founded the Singapore-based cloud company Megaspeed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2026
The judge said the evidence in the case also showed that Brand's entourage during the peak of his celebrity had "indulged your dreadful behaviour".
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2026
Beecher kept his position at Plymouth Congregational Church and continued his life as a celebrity preacher.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
At the game, there is a group of Egyptian celebrities and influencers.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026
The company has collaborated with brands and celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Travis Scott and Sabrina Carpenter on the brightly colored, blended beverages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
That leaves 19% undecided — and it might be those voters that celebrities are trying to reach with their recent endorsements.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Of all the celebrities I’d bet on botching their Halloween getup, Martha Stewart would have been the longest shot.
From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026
Farther beyond the tourist shops are newly built condos that no one but celebrities from the States are rich enough to use.
From "Hurricane Child" by Kheryn Callender
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
