Standard Lemma guide

dignitary

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈdɪɡnɪtɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH1 G N AH0 T EH2 R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Relating to dignity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An important or influential person, or one of high rank or position.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an important or influential (and often overbearing) person

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: very important person, VIP, high-up, panjandrum, high muckamuck

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: important person, influential person, personage

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French dignitaire.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: сановник (sanovnik) — important or influential person
  • Catalan: dignatari — important or influential person
  • Chinese Mandarin: 高官 (gāoguān) — important or influential person
  • Chinese Mandarin: 高僧 (gāosēng) — important or influential person
  • Chinese Mandarin: 要人 (yàorén) — important or influential person
  • Dutch: hoogwaardigheidsbekleder — important or influential person
  • Dutch: hoogwaardigheidsbekleedster — important or influential person
  • Egyptian: z:a-H-S20-A51 (sꜥḥ) — important or influential person
  • Esperanto: altrangulo — important or influential person
  • Finnish: merkkihenkilö — important or influential person
  • Finnish: arvohenkilö — important or influential person
  • French: dignitaire — important or influential person
  • German: Würdenträger — important or influential person
  • German: Würdenträgerin — important or influential person
  • Greek: αξιωματούχος (axiomatoúchos) — important or influential person
  • Hungarian: méltóság — important or influential person
  • Icelandic: fyrirmaður — important or influential person
  • Icelandic: stórmenni — important or influential person
  • Italian: dignitario — important or influential person
  • Japanese: 高官 (kōkan) — important or influential person
  • Japanese: 高僧 (kōsō) — important or influential person
  • Japanese: 要人 (yōjin) — important or influential person
  • Latin: dignitas — important or influential person
  • Manx: ard-er — important or influential person
  • Manx: ard-ghooinney — important or influential person
  • Māori: paewai — important or influential person
  • Persian: عالی رتبه — important or influential person
  • Persian: عالی مقام — important or influential person
  • Polish: dygnitarz — important or influential person
  • Polish: dostojnik — important or influential person
  • Portuguese: dignitário — important or influential person
  • Portuguese: dignatário — important or influential person
  • Romanian: demnitar — important or influential person
  • Russian: сано́вник (sanóvnik) — important or influential person
  • Spanish: dignatario — important or influential person
  • Swedish: dignitär — important or influential person
  • Unami: ahinu — important or influential person
  • Welsh: urddasolion — important or influential person