Definition of "dignitary"

Chinese dignitaries traveled with us from place to place, and when ready to depart from Urumchi, or Tihwa, we were introduced to the high officials who were going along in the plane.

1948, Henry A. Wallace, Andrew Jacob Steiger, Soviet Asia Mission‎, page 156

It was a remarkable climax to a match that ended with another of those disappearing acts from John Terry only to re-emerge, in full kit, so he could climb the steps, shake the hands of Eusébio, Michel Platini and all the other dignitaries, then help Frank Lampard to lift the trophy.

15 May 2013, Daniel Taylor, “Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic climbs highest to sink Benfica”, in The Guardian‎

The badness of a dignitary harm derives from the victim's belief that a perpetrator is willing to override or ignore her standing as a person with rights, with dignity, as evidenced by the wrongful criminal deed; […]

2015, J. M. Bernstein, Torture and Dignity: An Essay on Moral Injury, page 140