nabob
Americannoun
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any very wealthy, influential, or powerful person.
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Also a person, especially a European, who has made a large fortune in India or another country of the East.
noun
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informal a rich, powerful, or important man
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(formerly) a European who made a fortune in the Orient, esp in India
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another name for a nawab
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of nabob
From the Hindi word nawāb, dating back to 1605–15. See nawab
Vocabulary lists containing nabob
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This doesn’t sound like a con artist or a relentlessly negative nabob.
From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2021
In the words of the inimitable Spiro Agnew, Mr. Reilly, you are a “nattering nabob of negativism.”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2018
In 1992 Manchester City was owned by the Football Association nabob and hi-fi entrepreneur Peter Swales.
From The Guardian • Jul. 29, 2017
Jaffrey starred in his first major Indian film two years later, appearing as a chess-obsessed nabob in The Chess Players, which also featured Richard Attenborough as a British general.
From BBC • Nov. 16, 2015
I have not been an amateur actor for nothing, and as for manners I can be as bad mannered as any nabob in creation if I try.
From Toppleton's Client or, A Spirit in Exile by Bangs, John Kendrick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
