NOBILITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does nobility mean? 

• NOBILITY (noun)
  The noun NOBILITY has 3 senses:

1. a privileged class holding hereditary titles

2. the quality of elevation of mind and exaltation of character or ideals or conduct

3. the state of being of noble birth

  Familiarity information: NOBILITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NOBILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A privileged class holding hereditary titles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

aristocracy; nobility

Hypernyms ("nobility" is a kind of...):

elite; elite group (a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status)

Meronyms (members of "nobility"):

aristocrat; blue blood; patrician (a member of the aristocracy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nobility"):

noblesse (members of the nobility (especially of the French nobility))

baronage; peerage (the peers of a kingdom considered as a group)

baronetage (the collective body of baronets)

knighthood (aristocrats holding the rank of knight)

samurai (feudal Japanese military aristocracy)

Instance hyponyms:

Ferdinand and Isabella (joint monarchs of Spain; Ferdinand V and Isabella I)

William and Mary (joint monarchs of England; William III and Mary II)

Derivation:

noble (of or belonging to or constituting the hereditary aristocracy especially as derived from feudal times)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of elevation of mind and exaltation of character or ideals or conduct

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

grandeur; magnanimousness; nobility; nobleness

Hypernyms ("nobility" is a kind of...):

honorableness; honourableness (the quality of deserving honor or respect; characterized by honor)

Attribute:

noble (having or showing or indicative of high or elevated character)

ignoble (completely lacking nobility in character or quality or purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nobility"):

high-mindedness; idealism; noble-mindedness (elevated ideals or conduct; the quality of believing that ideals should be pursued)

sublimity (nobility in thought or feeling or style)

Derivation:

noble (having or showing or indicative of high or elevated character)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The state of being of noble birth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

nobility; noblesse

Hypernyms ("nobility" is a kind of...):

position; status (the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nobility"):

purple; the purple ((in ancient Rome) position of imperial status)

Derivation:

noble (of or belonging to or constituting the hereditary aristocracy especially as derived from feudal times)

 Context examples 

A path had been staked off from the city gate to the stands which had been erected for the court and the nobility.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Anne had never seen her father and sister before in contact with nobility, and she must acknowledge herself disappointed.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Well, I am going to exercise my prerogative of roaring and show you how fares nobility.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He asked, What methods were used to cultivate the minds and bodies of our young nobility, and in what kind of business they commonly spent the first and teachable parts of their lives?

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The stain of illegitimacy, unbleached by nobility or wealth, would have been a stain indeed.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

And yet, in spite of all these disadvantages, there was a certain nobility in the woman’s bearing—a gallantry in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled something of respect and admiration.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He took my hands and raised me up, and made me sit on the sofa, and sat by me; he held my hand in his, and said to me with, oh, such infinite sweetness:—My life is a barren and lonely one, and so full of work that I have not had much time for friendships; but since I have been summoned to here by my friend John Seward I have known so many good people and seen such nobility that I feel more than ever—and it has grown with my advancing years—the loneliness of my life.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

My lady, as her friends called her, sincerely desired to be a genuine lady, and was so at heart, but had yet to learn that money cannot buy refinement of nature, that rank does not always confer nobility, and that true breeding makes itself felt in spite of external drawbacks.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I will myself put the diamond chain round your neck, and the circlet on your forehead,—which it will become: for nature, at least, has stamped her patent of nobility on this brow, Jane; and I will clasp the bracelets on these fine wrists, and load these fairy-like fingers with rings.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

One wonders how the names of many of our nobility become so common.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)