Celebrity
a famous or well-known person.
fame; renown.
Contemporary Examples
Historical Examples
noun (pl) -ties
a famous person: a show-business celebrity
fame or notoriety
n.
late 14c., “solemn rite or ceremony,” from Old French celebrité “celebration” or directly from Latin celibritatem (nominative celebritas) “multitude, fame,” from celeber “frequented, populous” (see celebrate). Meaning “condition of being famous” is from c.1600; that of “famous person” is from 1849.
When the old gods withdraw, the empty thrones cry out for a successor, and with good management, or even without management, almost any perishable bag of bones may be hoisted into the vacant seat. [E.R. Dodds, “The Greeks and the Irrational”]
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noun a famous person who has published a novel; a novelist who has become a celebrity
- Celebutante
a person seeking the limelight through association with celebrities. Contemporary Examples noun a young woman from a wealthy background who becomes a celebrity noun a débutante who has become a celebrity, such as a famous heiress
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a variety of celery, Apium graveolens rapaceum, of the parsley family, having a large, edible, turniplike root. Contemporary Examples Historical Examples noun a variety of celery, Apium graveolens rapaceum, with a large turnip-like root, used as a vegetable
- Celerity
swiftness; speed. Historical Examples noun rapidity; swiftness; speed n. late 15c., from Old French celeritee (14c., Modern French célérité), from Latin celeritatem (nominative celeritas) “swiftness,” from celer “swift,” from possible PIE root *kel- “to drive, set in swift motion” (cf. Sanskrit carati “goes,” Greek keles “fast horse or ship,” keleuthos “journey, road,” Lithuanian sulys “a […]