Etymology From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honor + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.
1
US Behaving in a manner that shows honor; decent, having integrity.
In confinement ladies are attended, not by the ordinary doctors, but by women especially devoted to the calling, who regard their profession as honorable and humanitary.1887, The Popular Science Monthly, volume 31, page 629:
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US Complying with cultural rules regarding honor; not provoking shame or disgrace.
That culture considered it no disgrace to be defeated in honorable combat.
Luxury was abolished. People lived in honorable marriage. All the women were chaste, faithful, and far from wantoners.1943, Korean Research Bulletin, volumes 1-2, page 20:
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Government, PoliticsUS A courtesy title, given in Britain and the Commonwealth to a cabinet minister, minister of state, or senator, and in the United States to the president, vice president, congresspeople, state governors and legislators, and mayors.
Uncheered by friends, unhissed by foes, the honorable member blandly continued his speech […]1872, Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, The Unkind Word, and Other Stories, page 145:
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US A courtesy title, given in the United Kingdom to all sons and daughters of viscounts and barons and to the younger sons of earls.
Etymology From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. By surface analysis, honor + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.
1
US A politician or other person who bears the title of "honorable".
These included a reception for the Congress participants, given by the city of Barcelona in a 14th century palace, with guards making room for the mayor and other honorables, […]1959, American Journal of Psychotherapy, volume 13, page 111: