laureate

noun lau·re·ate \ ˈlȯr-ē-ət , ˈlär- \

|Updated on: 15 Jun 2018

Definition of laureate

: the recipient of honor or recognition for achievement in an art or science

a Nobel laureate

; specifically : poet laureate

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laureate

adjective

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laureateship

play \ˈlȯr-ē-ət-ˌship, ˈlär-\ noun

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Recent Examples of laureate from the Web

Wade, published in April, reads like a book a laureate should write; these are poems that draw on weighty subjects and hinge on ideas of belonging.

— adrianna smith, The Atlantic, "What Tracy K. Smith Sees in America," 9 June 2018
Love served as the longtime lyrical laureate of the operation, penning images that will live forever in the American psyche, and Wilson blossomed into a Mozart for the transistor radio era.

— jordan runtagh, PEOPLE.com, "The Beach Boys in Their Own Words: America's Band Tells the Tales Behind Their Pop Masterpieces," 8 June 2018
Prominent southern Christians such as Wole Soyinka, an author and Nobel laureate, think the ban does not go far enough.

— The Economist, "Fighting between Nigerian farmers and herders is getting worse," 7 June 2018
Ruscha is the unofficial artist laureate of Los Angeles, a municipality whose official currency happens to be coolness.

— mark rozzo, Vanities, "Ed Ruscha Still Has Plenty More to Say About America," 30 May 2018
Sadly, the lack of female Nobel physics laureates persists 54 years later.

— brian keating, WIRED, "There's Nothing Noble about Science’s Nobel Prize Gender Gap," 27 May 2018
One wonders whether the late Nobel laureate could have found a lyrical description of the latest threat facing the grand, white-marble monument: millions of defecating insects.

— shashank bengali, latimes.com, "How air pollution, a dying river and swarms of defecating insects threaten the Taj Mahal," 22 May 2018
Unfortunately, there have been only two more female physics Nobel laureates than female Popes.

— brian keating, WIRED, "There's Nothing Noble about Science’s Nobel Prize Gender Gap," 27 May 2018
To take a year off and name two literature laureates in 2019.

— david l. ulin, latimes.com, "There will be no Nobel Prize in literature this year. And that's a shame.," 11 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'laureate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of laureate

Middle English, crowned with laurel as a distinction, from Latin laureatus, from laurea laurel wreath, from feminine of laureus of laurel, from laurus

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1529

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year