illustre

The adjective is derived from Middle French illustre (15th c.) (French illustre), from Latin illustris (“bright, shining, brilliant, lustrous; clear, lucid; illustrious, distinguished, famous”), from illūstrō (“to illustrate”).

The verb is derived from Middle French illustrer (15th c.) (French illustrer), from illūstrāre (“to illustrate”).

illustre (comparative more illustre, superlative most illustre)

1. (obsolete) illustrious

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 Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Fift Daie of the First Week.”, 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.

• illustrated (“made illustrious”, adjective)

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “illustre”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

• Tulliers, illuster

• IPA^(key): /i.lystʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ystʁ
• Homophones: illustrent, illustres

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

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....

• illustre inconnu

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

illustre

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

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

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

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

illustre m or f (plural illustri, superlative illustrissimo)

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

• famoso, celebre, rinomato

• illustremente
• illustrissimo

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

illūstre

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of illūstris

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