emeritus
/ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.25 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A (male) person who is retired from active service or an occupation, especially one who retains an honorific version of a previous title.
Example Sentences
- "emeritus professor professor emeritus professors emeritae"
- "pontiff emeritus"
- "I must confess that in such an answer I see nothing worthy of a philosopher; and should rather have looked for it from a literary petit-maître than from an emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy."
- "Number and Description of Professorships. 1. An emeritus professorship of obstetrics."
- "Paul is not a whit behind any of the apostles, or “Pastor Emerituses,” and is ready to meet all things on all occasions."
- "Thus far, no teachers' retirement fund, as such, has been established. The board has thus far met this problem by electing teachers unable to perform regular service as teachers emeriti, although this is only a temporary arrangement and committees of the teachers and the board are now considering the feasibility of the establishment of the retirement fund."
Etymology
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin ēmeritus (“(having been) earned, (having been) merited; (having been) served, having done one’s service”), the perfect passive participle of ēmereō (“to earn, merit; to gain by service; (military) to complete one’s obligation to serve, to serve out one’s time”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + mereō (“to deserve, merit; to acquire, earn, get, obtain; to render service to; to serve”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot; to assign”)). The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural form emeriti is borrowed from Latin ēmeritī.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/
- British English: /ɪˈmɛɹɪtəs/