celebrity
Pluralcelebrities
- 1A person widely recognized by the general public for their success or accomplishments.
By her thirties she was a celebrity recognized in airports across the world.
Sports celebrities often earn more from endorsements than from their salaries.
Similarstar, celeb, luminary, notable
Note
Here the abstract quality of fame becomes a person you can count. In E. Nesbit's The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), a child asks what Celebrities are and is told: the Queen and the Princes. The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) puts the word in its title. In casual speech it clips to celeb, or even sleb, while star and big name are the everyday alternatives.
- 2The state of being famous or widely talked about.
Her celebrity grew with each novel she published.
The scandal gave him a brief and unwelcome celebrity.
Similarfame, renown, distinction, eminence
Note
The abstract side of the word takes no plural, and it belongs mostly to careful, elevated prose, where it sits beside fame and renown. It pairs naturally with possessives and modifiers, as in her celebrity or a brief celebrity. Keep it apart from a famous person, which can be counted: one celebrity, many celebrities. It can cover being talked about, not only being admired.
- 3A rite or ceremony carried out according to custom or religious practice.
Note
A word for the ceremony itself, not for anyone famous who attends it. It came into English through Old French celebrite from Latin celēbritās. In this meaning it is now obsolete and appears only in older writing. A modern reader hears a famous person first, so when you meet it in an old text, read it as solemn ritual and observance, not as fame.
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Origin
It comes from Middle English celebritē, from Old French celebrite (compare French célébrité), from Latin celēbritās.