I know that the adjective "prestigious" can be used for a thing, but what about an individual? I mean if there is an equivalent adjective for people which conveys the same meaning to the second person. Please have a consideration on my self-made example:
- In my opinion, 'Harvard' is the most prestigious university in the world.
But what can I use in the following sentence to fill in the blank:
- he is the most …….. person I have ever seen.
Is it possible to use 'prestigious' for an individual too?
In my mother language we use exactly this word for both senses and this is why I doubt if I know needed information about this adjective or not.
Best Answer
I would say no, you can't use "prestigious" for a person. When we say that Harvard is prestigious, we mean that it confers prestige on people who go there. With that sense of the word, it doesn't make sense to describe a person as prestigious: what would that even mean?
Wiktionary suggests that typical things describable as "prestigious" include "award, prize, job, address, school, university, college, club, journal, firm, institution, office, etc." but not people.
As an alternative, you could talk about the person's high status or high reputation. I think you'd be more likely to talk about the reasons for their high prestige: e.g., if they've won a huge number of awards, you could say that they're "the most decorated person" or, if they're a sportsperson or academic, you'd tend to talk about their success in their sport or their intelligence. Other good words to use include "respected", "admired", "celebrated", "renowned", "reputable", or "eminent", as suggested by Gary Botnovcan in a comment.