An honorific is a word or expression with connotations conveying esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term is used not quite correctly to refer to an honorary title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers.

Typically, honorifics are used for second and third persons; use for first person is less common. Some languages have anti-honorific (despective or humilific) first person forms (meaning something like "your most humble servant" or "this unworthy person") whose effect is to enhance the relative honor accorded to a second or third person.

The most common honorifics in modern English are usually placed immediately before the name of the subject. Honorifics which can be used of any adult of the appropriate sex include "Mr", "Mrs", "Miss." Other honorifics denote the honored person’s occupation, for instance "Doctor", "Captain", "Coach", Officer, "Reverend" for all clergy and/or "Father" (for a Catholic priest) and some Anglican clergy, or "Professor". Abbreviations of academic degrees or professional certifications, used after a person's name, may also be seen as a kind of honorific (e.g. "Jane Doe, Ph.D.") "Master" as a prefix ahead of the name of boys and young men up to about 16 years of age is less common than it used to be, but is still used by older people addressing the young in formal situations and correspondence.

Glenn Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor (columnist and blogger) to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics. He has also contributed to other newspapers and political news magazines, including The New York Times,The Los Angeles Times,The Guardian,The American Conservative,The National Interest, and In These Times.

Greenwald has written four books, three of which have been New York Times bestsellers: How Would a Patriot Act? (2006); A Tragic Legacy (2007), and With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, released in October 2011. He also wrote Great American Hypocrites (2008).

In March 2009, he was selected, along with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, as the recipient of the first annual Izzy Award by the Park Center for Independent Media, an award named after independent journalist I.F. "Izzy" Stone and devoted to rewarding excellence in independent journalism. The selection panel cited Greenwald's "pathbreaking journalistic courage and persistence in confronting conventional wisdom, official deception and controversial issues."