Honourable means deserving respect for acting rightly. An honourable man, honourable intentions, an honourable defeat.
It is also a formal title: in the Commons members address each other as the honourable member, a convention that keeps debate aimed at the argument rather than the person. An honourable defeat is one lost without disgrace. American writing drops the u.
1adjectivehonourableDeserving respect for acting rightly.
“Admitting his mistake to everyone was the honourable thing to do.”
honourable is a quality of character.
Also accepted in games: honorable
Latin honorabilis comes from honorare, to honour, from honor. The u came in with the Old French spelling.
Latin
honōrābilis
Old French
honorable
Middle English
honourable
English, today
honourable
Built from
From Middle English honourable, from Old French honorable, honurable, from Latin honōrābilis, from honōrō (“to honour”); cognate with Italian onorabile, Spanish honorable. by surface analysis, honour + -able. In this sense, largely displaced Old English ārfæst.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA