Venerable | Definition of venerable by Merriam-Webster

Full Definition of VENERABLE

1

: deserving to be venerated —used as a title for an Anglican archdeacon or for a Roman Catholic who has been accorded the lowest of three degrees of recognition for sanctity

2

: made sacred especially by religious or historical association

3

a : calling forth respect through age, character, and attainments <a venerable jazz musician>; broadly : conveying an impression of aged goodness and benevolence <encouraged by the venerable doctor's head-nodding>

b : impressive by reason of age <under venerable pines>

— ven·er·a·bil·i·ty \ˌve-nə-rə-ˈbi-lə-tē, ˌven-rə-\ noun

— ven·er·a·ble·ness \ˈve-nər(-ə)-bəl-nəs, ˈven-rə-\ noun

— ven·er·a·bly \-blē\ adverb

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Examples of VENERABLE

[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
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Origin of VENERABLE

(see venerate)

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to VENERABLE

Synonyms: hallowed, revered, reverend, sacred, venerated

Antonyms: modern, new, recent

Synonym Discussion of 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>.