emeritus
1 of 2noun
emeritus
2 of 2adjective
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In Latin, emeritus was used to describe soldiers who had completed their duty. It is the past participle of the verb emereri, meaning "to serve out one's term," from the prefix e-, meaning "out," and merēre, "to earn, deserve, or serve." (Merēre is also the source of our word merit.) English speakers claimed emeritus as their own in the late 17th century, applying it as both a noun and an adjective referring or relating not to soldiers but to someone who is retired from professional life but permitted to keep as an honorary title the rank of the last office they held. The adjective is frequently used postpositively—that is, after the noun it modifies rather than before it—and it is most commonly used to describe specifically those retired from a professorship.
Example Sentences
David Noyce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Aug. 2022 Presidents take office with ambitious agendas that often crash into political reality, said David Kennedy, an emeritus Stanford history professor. Jim Puzzanghera, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Aug. 2022 Andrew Ingersoll, an emeritus professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, agreed with this assessment. CBS News, 13 Aug. 2022 Companies pay into campaigns to get meetings with politicians, Andrew Downs, emeritus associate professor of political science at Purdue University Fort Wayne. Binghui Huang, The Indianapolis Star, 11 Aug. 2022 Charles Snowden, lead author of the 2015 study and an emeritus professor in psychology, said that the scientists weren't trying to replicate cat sounds. Fox News, 28 July 2022 Expect about 40 meteors per hour, but during particularly intense storms, viewers may see as many as 120 per hour, said Andrew Fraknoi, the emeritus chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Gwendolyn Wu, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 July 2022 This is more of an emeritus nomination since Eagles fans really aren't that bad now. Mike Freeman, USA TODAY, 20 May 2022 France risks breaking the 2002 record of non-voters, which reached 28% in the whole of France, according to Jean Chiche, emeritus researcher at the SciencesPo Center for Political Research. Ibtissem Guenfoud, ABC News, 11 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
Adjective
Latin, past participle of emereri to serve out one's term, from e- + mereri, merēre to earn, deserve, serve — more at merit entry 1
Noun
1692, in the meaning defined above
Adjective
1693, in the meaning defined at sense 1