From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishillustriousil‧lus‧tri‧ous /ɪˈlʌstriəs/ adjective formal FAMOUSADMIREfamous and admired because of what you have achieved She has had an illustrious career. Wagner was just one of many illustrious visitors to the town.
Examples from the Corpus
illustrious• The laibon retells the accounts of his illustrious ancestors of the great migration from the North.• Sometime between the lamb chops and the chocolate mousse, Maestro Domingo presented his illustrious cast.• The church of San Celso, now standing somewhat forlornly beside the bigger, more illustrious church, has the longer history.• Ten years later one woman asks the husband of a particularly illustrious colleague what his wife was doing.• First though, while in Cairo, Stirling met some illustrious company.• The illustrious director Sir Richard Attenborough also attended the ceremony.• Polybius was ready to accept many, many tears from his illustrious friend and protector.• For the present Posidonius had little choice: he had to rely on his illustrious friend Pompey.• Well, that brave, kind, illustrious man did not come home to us.Origin illustrious (1500-1600) Latin illustris “bright, famous”, from illustrare; → ILLUSTRATE 