guest of honor
34
3.5
- noun
- Formal
:
invitado de honor
- Murray was there, and said in an amused undertone, "The guest of honor, Annabelle's poet."
And last year the guest of honour was the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
- And last year the guest of honour was the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Examples
-
Let us all raise our glasses to our guest of honor, Miss Emily Kimberly.
-
During the award ceremony, the guest of honor received a standing ovation from the audience.
-
Who will be this month's lucky guest of honor?
-
We are guests of honor at the White House, man!
-
The guest of honor should be getting ready for the party.
-
Our president was the guest of honor.
Academic text (2009) -
"Come on, I want you to meet everyone, especially Dr. Sheffield, our guest of honor."
Fiction book (1992) -
I worked at a country club in South Florida where a rabbi was the guest of honor.
Blog text (17) -
And of course, welcome our guest of honor, our honoree.
-
The guest of honor and newly minted Ph.D. had enjoyed more than a few celebratory toasts.
Fiction book (2002)
Synonyms
13
5.6
A person who gets an award for good work or service
A person who receives an honor, degree, or award
Antonyms
How Honored
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a 'guest' who is receiving 'honor' (the 'of' linking phrase signals that the guest is the recipient of honor). Many languages use the same construction (e.g. Spanish 'invitado de honor', French 'invité d'honneur'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Guest of honor comes from a simple scene at a party where the host picks one special visitor. The chosen guest is given a seat, gifts, and praise to show honor, so the phrase means the person the event is for or the one shown 'special respect'.