Sentence:  Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the <WSD>venerable</WSD> industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Commanding respect because of age, dignity, character or position.