Definition of "emerita" [emerita]

• Retired but retaining an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement. Used of a woman: a professor emerita. (adjective)
• A woman who is retired but retains an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""Well, I hope 'emerita' doesn't mean 'over the hill,' but I'm truly honored -- blown away, in fact," Engh said."
• "She also served as a board member for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute; director emerita and national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; and as a national advisory board member for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome."
• "She had served as chair and president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women and worked alongside civil rights pioneers in the 1960s, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., future U.S. Rep. John Lewis and A. Philip Randolph."