illustre

See also: illustré

English

Adjective

illustre (comparative more illustre, superlative most illustre)

1. (obsolete) illustrious

Verb

illustre (third-person singular simple present illustres, present participle illustring, simple past and past participle illustred) (transitive, obsolete)

1. To illuminate (something).
   • 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas], “[Du Bartas His First VVeek, or Birth of the VVorld: […].] The Fift Daie of the First VVeek.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 140:

     But, as the Phœnix on my Front doth gliſter, / Thou ſhalt the Finials of my Frame illuſtre.

2. To make (someone) illustrious.

Derived terms

• illustrated (“made illustrious”, adjective)

References

• OED 2nd edition 1989

Anagrams

• Tulliers, illuster

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.lystʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ystʁ
• Homophones: illustrent, illustres

Etymology 1

From Latin illustris (“bright, shining, brilliant, lustrous; clear, lucid; illustrious, distinguished, famous”), from illūstrō (“to illustrate”).

Adjective

illustre (plural illustres)

1. illustrious
   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter XXXIII:

     À Florence, riche et fameuse ville d’Italie, dans la province qu’on appelle Toscane, vivaient deux gentilshommes d’illustre famille, Anselme et Lothaire....

     In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy, in the province called Tuscany, lived two gentlemen of illustrious family, Anselmo and Lothario....

Derived terms

• illustre inconnu

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

illustre

1. inflection of illustrer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “illustre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin illustris (“bright, shining, brilliant, lustrous; clear, lucid; illustrious, distinguished, famous”), from illūstrō (“to illustrate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ilˈlu.stre/
• Rhymes: -ustre
• Hyphenation: il‧lù‧stre

Adjective

illustre (plural illustri, superlative illustrissimo)

1. illustrious, renowned, famous, distinguished
2. notorious

Synonyms

• famoso, celebre, rinomato

Derived terms

• illustremente
• illustrissimo

Further reading

• illustre in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Adjective

illūstre

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of illūstris

References

• “illustre”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press