laureate
Americannoun
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a person who has been honored for achieving distinction in a particular field or with a particular award.
a Nobel laureate.
adjective
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deserving or having special recognition for achievement, as for poetry (often used immediately after the noun that is modified).
poet laureate; conjurer laureate.
-
having special distinction or recognition in a field.
the laureate men of science.
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crowned or decked with laurel as a mark of honor.
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consisting of or resembling laurel, as a wreath or crown.
adjective
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literary crowned with laurel leaves as a sign of honour
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archaic made of laurel
noun
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short for poet laureate
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a person honoured with an award for art or science
a Nobel laureate
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rare a person honoured with the laurel crown or wreath
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of laureate
1350–1400; Middle English; < Latin laureātus crowned with laurel, equivalent to laure ( us ) of laurel ( laur ( us ) bay tree + -eus -eous ) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Winning a major award that marks your achievement in science, art, or literature makes you a laureate. If you develop a cure for cancer one day, you'll probably be a Nobel laureate! The word laureate has a Latin root meaning "crowned with laurels," a reference to the dark, glossy-leaved plants that were historically draped on celebrated poets and heroes in ancient Greece. In 17th-century England, royal households had their very own poets, known as poet laureates — this honorific has since been extended, so that schools, states, and even entire countries have poet laureates, celebrated and honored for their work.
Vocabulary lists containing laureate
Mandela's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Address
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for January 16–22, 2021
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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.
Theoretical proof for this comes from a famous article written 40 years ago by William Sharpe, the 1990 Nobel laureate in economics.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026
The spiky succulents are signifiers of what makes the desert special to people, said poet Ruth Nolan, the Mojave Desert literary laureate.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
The 80-year-old Nobel laureate has been held in detention - probably in a military prison in the capital Nay Pyi Taw - since she was removed from office in a military coup in 2021.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
"It is obvious that trust is eroding, both inside and outside the NPT," Seth Shelden of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told AFP.
From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026
This time Neylan’s target was Melvin Calvin, a future Nobel laureate who had worked at the Metallurgical Lab in Chicago and then moved to Berkeley to research peacetime applications of medical radioisotopes with John Lawrence.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions 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.
