Definition of VENERABLE

Other Words from venerable

venerability \ ˌve-nə-rə-ˈbi-lə-tē

, ˌven-rə- \ noun

venerableness \ ˈve-nər(-ə)-bəl-nəs

, ˈven-rə- \ noun

venerably \ ˈve-nər(-ə)-blē

, ˈven-rə- \ adverb

Choose the Right Synonym for venerable

old, ancient, venerable, antique, antiquated, archaic, obsolete mean having come into existence or use in the more or less distant past. old may apply to either actual or merely relative length of existence. old houses an old sweater of mine ancient applies to occurrence, existence, or use in or survival from the distant past. ancient accounts of dragons venerable stresses the impressiveness and dignity of great age. the family's venerable patriarch antique applies to what has come down from a former or ancient time. collected antique Chippendale furniture antiquated implies being discredited or outmoded or otherwise inappropriate to the present time. antiquated teaching methods archaic implies having the character or characteristics of a much earlier time. the play used archaic language to convey a sense of period obsolete may apply to something regarded as no longer acceptable or useful even though it is still in existence. a computer that makes earlier models obsolete

Examples of venerable in a Sentence

[Julie] Powell never met Julia Child (who died last year), but the venerable chef's spirit is present throughout, and Powell imaginatively reconstructs episodes from Child's life in the 1940s. Her writing is feisty and unrestrained, especially as she details killing lobsters, tackling marrowbones and cooking late into the night. — Publishers Weekly, 13 June 2005 Under her stewardship, the onetime boardinghouse came to be heralded as the South's most venerable family restaurant, a reliquary of old-fashioned cooking—collard greens enriched with fatback, creamed corn straight from the cob, fried chicken with a pepper-flecked crust—where the tables groaned beneath the weight of a quintessential midday repast, and history stood still on the plate for all to admire. — John T. Edge, Gourmet, January 2003 The lower the P/E, as a rough rule of thumb, the cheaper the stock. Though this guide to value has lots of exceptions, it remains a venerable market benchmark. — Jonathan Weil, Wall Street Journal, 21 Aug. 2001 I then descended to the Courts of justice, over which the judges, those venerable sages and interpreters of the law, presided, for determining the disputed rights and properties of men, as well as for the punishment of vice, and protection of innocence. — Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, 1726 the venerable old man was a cherished source of advice and wisdom for the villagers a venerable tradition that colleges have been maintaining for centuries

Recent Examples on the Web

And while this venerable center is rewarding, the adventurous visitor, like Captain Kirk, seeks out the constellations. — Jay Mcinerney, Vogue, "Why, Oh Why Do I Love Paris? Jay McInerney Counted the Ways in a 1986 Story for Vogue, Republished Here in Solidarity With the French Capital, Where Notre-Dame Burned," 16 Apr. 2019 This version of Merlin also appears, from time to time, as an owl, and as a properly venerable, though pleasingly seedy, sorcerer played by Patrick Stewart. — Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, "‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ Review: Some Brief, Shining Moments," 24 Jan. 2019 The pieces are born out of a venerable jewelry tradition, but the boldness of the design and the exuberance of the color disrupt it in the best way possible. — Stellene Volandes, Town & Country, "Cameo Jewelry Is Having a Moment," 3 May 2018 Bush declared that the pieces of the Constellation program would be ready to replace the space shuttle upon the venerable craft's retirement and put U.S. astronauts on the moon no later than 2020. — Andrew Moseman, Popular Mechanics, "Not Going Back to the Moon: A Brief Timeline," 27 Mar. 2019 Enter Activision Blizzard, which added DirectX12 support for its venerable World of Warcraft MMORPG in 2018. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Microsoft ports DirectX 12 to Windows 7, giving some older PC games a performance boost," 13 Mar. 2019 For shopping or a bite to eat, residents typically head to downtown Highlands, with venerable outposts like MuCulley’s Scottish Cashmere, Ristorante Paoletti and Kilwin’s Chocolates & Ice Cream shop. — Beth Decarbo, WSJ, "Vacation Homes That Feel Like Summer Camp," 14 Feb. 2019 Among other shifts, CNN cited upstart computer maker Compaq buying the venerable Digital Equipment Corporation. — Adi Robertson, The Verge, "The biggest video games, tech news, and apocalyptic anxieties of 1998," 29 Dec. 2018 There's a new Windows Insider build out today, and the biggest changes appear to be none other than Notepad, Windows' venerable barebones text editor. — Peter Bright, Ars Technica, "Latest Windows Insider build makes a major upgrade to, uh… Notepad," 10 Dec. 2018

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