medal of honor
noun
Simple meaning
The highest U.S. military decoration awarded for bravery and valor in action `above and beyond the call of duty'.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mehduhluhvahnerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɛdəˈlʌˈvɑnɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
USmilitary
The highest U.S. military decoration awarded for bravery and valor in action `above and beyond the call of duty'
usmilitary
The highest military award given in the United States.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The highest U.S. military decoration awarded for bravery and valor in action `above and beyond the call of duty'
Used this way, medal of honor is a specialist word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Military
- Historical writing
- News/reporting
- Ethics/values
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.