honoured

honoured — verb

1. showed great respect or admiration for a person, group, or thing, usually throug

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

showed great respect or admiration for a person, group, or thing, usually through a public action such as a ceremony, speech, or memorial.

Example

Sivan was honoured at a quiet ceremony for thirty years of nursing.

passive: be honoured at + event

The village honoured its lost fishermen with a stone monument by the harbour.

honour + somebody + with + noun phrase

Common collocations
  • publicly honoured
  • officially honoured
  • honoured at a ceremony
  • honoured for service
Synonyms
  • celebrated

    more about joy and festivity; less formal than honoured

  • commemorated

    specifically marks a past event or person, usually in a ceremony

  • praised

    uses words rather than ceremonies or symbolic acts

Antonyms
  • disrespected

    showed contempt rather than respect

  • shamed

    publicly humiliated rather than honoured

Grammar Patterns

honour + somebody

be honoured for + noun phrase

be honoured with + noun phrase

Usage Note

Frequently passive (be honoured at / with / for). Subject is often an institution, town, government, or community rather than a single person; the act is usually visible to others.

Common Mistakes

My father honoured me last night by cooking dinner.
My father made a special dinner for me last night.
small private kindness is not strong enough; honour implies public or weighty respect.
The teacher honoured the rule.
The teacher followed the rule.
for rules and laws use follow, obey, or respect; reserve honour for showing respect to people, achievements, or memory.

2. did the thing that a promise, agreement, contract, or duty required, instead of

2.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

did the thing that a promise, agreement, contract, or duty required, instead of breaking it or ignoring it.

Example

The bank honoured the cheque even though Tara's account was almost empty.

collocation: honour + cheque / payment

Sven honoured the old rental agreement and let the family stay another month.

honour + agreement / contract

Common collocations
  • honoured the agreement
  • honoured the contract
  • honoured the cheque
  • honoured the commitment
Synonyms
  • fulfilled

    broader; covers wishes and dreams as well as obligations

  • kept

    everyday word; 'kept her promise' is more common in speech than 'honoured her promise'

  • respected

    for treaties and agreements, often interchangeable with honoured

Antonyms
  • broke

    broke a promise / broke a contract

  • reneged on

    formally went back on an agreement

Grammar Patterns

honour + noun (promise / agreement / contract / commitment)

Usage Note

Object must be something that creates an obligation: a promise, agreement, contract, debt, cheque, ticket, or commitment. Distinguish from sense 1 (SHOW RESPECT): here no ceremony or admiration is involved, only the act of doing what was already owed.

Common Mistakes

She honoured to come to my party.
She honoured her promise to come to my party.
honour in this sense needs a noun object naming the obligation, not a to-infinitive.
The store honoured my old receipt with a smile.
The store honoured my old receipt and gave me a refund.
focus on whether the obligation was met, not on the manner of staff.

3. gave a person an official prize, medal, or formal title to mark something they h

3.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

gave a person an official prize, medal, or formal title to mark something they had done well.

Example

Amihan was honoured by the city with a gold medal for rescuing two children from the river.

passive: be honoured by + organisation + with + award

The Queen honoured Dr. Min with a knighthood for thirty years of cancer research.

honour + somebody + with + title

Common collocations
  • honoured with a medal
  • honoured with a prize
  • honoured at a ceremony
  • officially honoured
Synonyms
  • decorated

    specifically with a medal, often military

  • awarded

    neutral; focuses on the prize itself rather than the act of recognition

  • knighted

    narrow: only when the title is a knighthood

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

honour + somebody + with + noun (medal / prize / title)

be honoured by + organisation

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1 (SHOW RESPECT): here a concrete reward changes hands — a medal, prize, title, or knighthood — usually given by an official body. Subject is typically a country, monarch, university, or awarding organisation.

Common Mistakes

My boss honoured me with $50.
My boss gave me a $50 bonus.
small money payments are bonuses, not honours; reserve this sense for formal prizes and titles.
The school was honoured Harper.
Harper was honoured by the school.' or 'The school honoured Harper.
passive needs 'by'; active does not use 'was'.

Word family

  • honour
    verbB2
  • honour
    nounB2
  • honourable
    adjectiveC1
  • honourably
    adverbC1
  • dishonour
    verbC2
  • dishonourable
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe positive recognition, but they differ in tone, scale, and what is being marked. Honoured is formal and weighty; it usually involves a public act of respect — a ceremony, plaque, monument, or speech — and the subject is often an institution or community. Celebrated emphasises joy and festivity; you celebrate a birthday or a victory with food, music, and laughter, not necessarily with respect. Commemorated is narrower than honoured: it specifically marks a past event or person, often a sad one such as a war or a death, with a ritual or memorial. Praised is the lightest of the four — it uses words alone, can be private and quick, and needs no ceremony at all. So the manager praised the team after the meeting, the school celebrated its hundredth birthday with a concert, the country commemorated the soldiers on Armistice Day, and the city honoured the firefighters with a bronze statue.

honoured ↗celebrated ↗commemoratedpraised

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • be honoured at a ceremony
  • be honoured with a medal
  • honour an agreement
  • honour a promise

Prepositions

  • honoured for
  • honoured with
  • honoured by
  • honoured at
  • honoured as

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Honoured is the past tense and past participle of honour, the British spelling of the verb. The word came into English in the 1200s from Old French honorer, which itself came from Latin honorare, meaning 'to show respect to' or 'to mark with a formal sign of respect'. The Latin root honor first meant a public office or ceremony given as a reward, which is why the modern senses still cluster around three ideas: respect shown in public, the keeping of a duty owed, and the giving of a formal award. American English drops the British 'u', spelling the verb honor and its past form honored, but the meaning is the same.