Word
emeritus
Phoneticsemer·i·tus
US/ɪˈmɛɹətəs/
UK/ɪmˈɛɹɪtəs/
Definition
adj. used to describe a retired professional, like a professor, who keeps their title as an honor. It shows they are still respected for their long career.
adj. retaining a title as an honor after retirement from a professional position, most commonly in academic contexts. Typically follows the noun it modifies.
Examples
“She is now a professor emeritus at the university.”
“After forty years of teaching, the department granted him emeritus status so he could continue his research.”
“The emeritus professor still maintains an office on campus, where he provides occasional mentorship to doctoral candidates while finishing his final volume on medieval history.”
Examples
simple
“She is now a professor emeritus at the university.”
contextual
“After forty years of teaching, the department granted him emeritus status so he could continue his research.”
complex
“The emeritus professor still maintains an office on campus, where he provides occasional mentorship to doctoral candidates while finishing his final volume on medieval history.”
Usage
Postpositive adjective — almost always placed immediately after the noun it modifies (e.g., 'Professor Emeritus').
Pitfall
the emeritus professor
the professor emeritus
While sometimes used before the noun, it traditionally follows the title it modifies.
Real-World Examples
Common in science and education writing
“His 2007 emeritus professorship lecture epitomised this life well lived: stories and science woven together, all delivered as if he had been performing in the West End.” “Another critic of Arday was Dr David Harris, professor emeritus at Plymouth Marjon University, in Devon, who had previously written to Cambridge with claims about Arday’s work.” “David Cooper, co author of the analysis and emeritus senior research scientist at Colorado State University.” “At that time, Bruce Tomblin, PhD, now professor emeritus in the UI Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, studied the language abilities of 350 students in Iowa.” Etymology
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin ēmeritus (“(having been) earned, (having been) merited; (having been) served, having done one’s service”), the perfect passive participle of ēmereō (“to earn, merit; to gain by service; (military) to complete one’s obligation to serve, to serve out one’s time”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + mereō (“to deserve, merit; to acquire, earn, get, obtain; to render service to; to serve”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot; to assign”)). The noun is derived from the adjective. The plural form emeriti is borrowed from Latin ēmeritī.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/emeritus