How to Use honorific in a Sentence

honorific

adjective
  • The latter, in the World Cup context, is an honorific, not a fault.
    — Liz Clarke, The Denver Post, 7 July 2019
  • Wahid, known by the honorific Gus Dur, was a Muslim cleric beloved for his jovial style.
    — Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2019
  • The goal is to change all eponymous or honorific bird names — those after whom a discovery is named or in honor or someone.
    — Sarah Bowman, The Indianapolis Star, 20 Feb. 2023
  • She's been the reigning queen of no makeup for almost a year now, and her latest hairstyle just earned her another honorific.
    — Devon Abelman, Allure, 24 July 2017
  • Then proceed to use it, honorific followed by surname, just as frequently as the other person does.
    — Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 8 June 2019
  • Male physicians are more frequently introduced with the honorific Doctor so and so.
    — Recode Staff, Recode, 28 Mar. 2018
  • The sisters have kept their titles and the honorific Her Royal Highness.
    — Simon Perry, PEOPLE, 13 Nov. 2025
  • This central enfilade of three house-like honorific rooms was painted a classical color scheme of terra cotta, sky blue and pale grey with glossy off-white trim.
    — Dan Lobitz, Architectural Digest, 9 Dec. 2025
  • When a protein source contains an adequate supply of all nine essential amino acids, it’s dubbed with the honorific title of complete protein.
    — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, 28 Aug. 2019
  • Pelosi skipped some of the traditional honorific talk when introducing the president.
    — Emma Grey Ellis, Wired, 5 Feb. 2020
  • Like with honorific titles and church liturgies, the religion viewed setting aside special days as a human convention outside of divine law.
    — JSTOR Daily, 24 Nov. 2025
  • The Louis Armstrong Memorial Dishwasher had come with the kitchen; the honorific had not.
    — Nick Friedman, New York Times, 3 June 2018
  • The royal family later stripped King Charles’ younger brother of his honorific titles and royal patronages.
    — Ava Benny-Morrison, Fortune, 4 Jan. 2024
  • The Demon’s genius lies in its engagement with American drag-racing culture and its roots in honorific dueling.
    — WSJ, 20 July 2017
  • Another police ad attacks the council for voting to give Becker an honorific title shortly after he was indicted.
    — Lance Williams, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Oct. 2024
  • At a tiny piazza near the water, two magnificent Corinthian columns stand atop a staircase as honorific harbor monuments.
    — Erica Firpo, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
  • In South Korea, those born in the same year often treat each other as equals, while people must use honorific titles to address those born earlier, rather than directly using their names.
    — Hyung-Jin Kim, The Seattle Times, 13 Apr. 2019
  • And David, once dignified with the Turkish honorific effendi, would die in Auschwitz with much of his family in 1943.
    — The Economist, 2 Jan. 2020
  • America's outlook on Indian life is by turns lionizing and loathing, honorific and ostracizing.
    — Ryan P. Smith, Smithsonian, 22 Jan. 2018
  • In 1888, the honorific Mahatma (great soul), a term later used to describe Gandhi, was accorded to Phule.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 9 Aug. 2023
  • India also has several languages that use gender-neutral pronouns — Tamil, for instance, has an honorific neutral pronoun and verb conjugation.
    — Supriya Ganesh, Vulture, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Bharathiraja earned the honorific Iyakkunar Imayam – pinnacle of directors.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 10 June 2026
  • Tillerson received an honorific – the Order of Friendship – from Putin’s government in 2013.
    — Richard Lardner, Orange County Register, 1 Feb. 2017
  • Clifford Iknokinok, received honorific letters and certificates from the Navy and National Guard.
    — Mark Thiessen, ajc, 1 Apr. 2023
  • Geraldine Ferraro was running for Vice President, and the Times’ inviolable house style insisted on an honorific.
    — Adam Rogers, WIRED, 15 Aug. 2019
  • However, Mr Raab holds the honorific title of first secretary of state, indicating his status as Mr Johnson’s preferred deputy.
    — The Economist, 6 Apr. 2020
  • The Marchesa Origo, to give Iris her proper honorific, acquired a reputation as a valiant humanitarian.
    — Dan Hofstadter, WSJ, 30 Aug. 2018
  • It’s used sometimes as an honorific, to praise directors with a strong artistic mark, and sometimes merely as a description, to suggest that directors bear the ultimate responsibility for a movie’s quality (or lack of it).
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 8 June 2019
  • But the fish rots from the head, and rather than showing concern about these abuses or issuing directives ordering them to stop, the Kremlin bestowed an honorific title on one of the units accused of committing atrocities in Bucha.
    — Dara Massicot, Foreign Affairs, 18 May 2022
  • The real czars may be long gone, but for decades, the White House has been doing a good job of keeping the role—or at least the honorific—alive, appointing a director to oversee a particular task or issue, and bestowing the title along with it.
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 15 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'honorific.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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