Adjacent Words

Celebrity definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CELEBRITY, n.
1. Fame; renown; the distinction or honor publicly bestowed on a nation or person, on character or exploits; the distinction bestowed on whatever is great or remarkable, and manifested by praises or eulogies; as the celebrity of the duke of Wellington; the celebrity of Homer, or of the Iliad.
England acquired celebrity from the triumphs of Marlborough.
2. Public and splendid transaction; as the celebrity of a marriage. In this sense, as used by Bacon, we now use celebration.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a widely known person; "he was a baseball celebrity" [syn: celebrity, famous person]
2: the state or quality of being widely honored and acclaimed [syn: fame, celebrity, renown] [ant: infamy, opprobrium]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Date: 14th century 1. the state of being celebrated ; fame 2. a famous or celebrated person

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a well-known person. 2 fame. Etymology: F célébrité or L celebritas f. celeber: see CELEBRATE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Celebrity Ce*leb"ri*ty, n.; pl. Celebrities. [L. celebritas: cf. F. c['e]l['e]brit['e].] 1. Celebration; solemnization. [Obs.] The celebrity of the marriage. --Bacon. 2. The state or condition of being celebrated; fame; renown; as, the celebrity of Washington. An event of great celebrity in the history of astronomy. --Whewell. 3. A person of distinction or renown; -- usually in the plural; as, he is one of the celebrities of the place.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(celebrities) 1. A celebrity is someone who is famous, especially in areas of entertainment such as films, music, writing, or sport. In 1944, at the age of 30, Hersey suddenly became a celebrity. ...a host of celebrities. = star N-COUNT 2. If a person or thing achieves celebrity, they become famous, especially in areas of entertainment such as films, music, writing, or sport. Joanna has finally made it to the first rank of celebrity after 25 years as an actress.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Fame, renown, glory, honor, credit, reputation, eminence, distinction, repute. 2. Person of note, noted person, lion.

Moby Thesaurus

Establishment, PR, VIP, acclaim, ballyhoo, baron, big gun, big man, big name, bigwig, blurb, brass, brass hat, bright light, center of attraction, character, common knowledge, constellation, cry, currency, cynosure, daylight, dignitary, dignity, distinction, eclat, elder, eminence, exposure, fame, famousness, father, figure, folk hero, galaxy, glare, glory, great man, hero, heroine, hoopla, hue and cry, idol, immortal, important person, interests, kudos, limelight, lion, lords of creation, luminaries, luminary, magnate, mahatma, man of mark, master spirit, maximum dissemination, mogul, nabob, name, notability, notable, notoriety, notoriousness, panjandrum, person of note, person of renown, personage, personality, pillar of society, pleiad, plug, pop hero, popular hero, popular idol, popularity, power, power elite, press notice, prestige, prominence, public eye, public figure, public knowledge, public relations, public report, publicity, publicity story, publicness, puff, reclame, recognition, renown, rep, report, reputation, repute, ruling circle, sachem, social lion, somebody, something, spotlight, star, stardom, superstar, the bubble reputation, the great, the top, top brass, top people, tycoon, very important person, vogue, worthy, write-up