ennoble

American  

[en-noh-buhl] / ɛnˈnoʊ bəl /

verb (used with object)

• ennobles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ennobled,
  past participle,  past
• ennobling
  present participle

1. to elevate in degree, excellence, or respect; dignify; exalt.

   a personality ennobled by true generosity.

2. to confer a title of nobility on.

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ennoble British  

/ ɪˈnəʊbəl /

verb

1. to make noble, honourable, or excellent; dignify; exalt

2. to raise to a noble rank; confer a title of nobility upon

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ennoblement
  noun
• ennobler
  noun
• ennobling
  adjective
• unennobled
  adjective
• unennobling
  adjective
• ennoblingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• ennobling
  present
• ennobled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ennoble
  simple
• ennobles
  simple
• have ennobled
  perfect
• has ennobled
  perfect
• am ennobling
  progressive
• are ennobling
  progressive
• is ennobling
  progressive
• have been ennobling
  perfect progressive
• has been ennobling
  perfect progressive

Past

• ennobled
  simple
• had ennobled
  perfect
• was ennobling
  progressive
• were ennobling
  progressive
• had been ennobling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ennoble
  simple
• will have ennobled
  perfect
• will be ennobling
  progressive
• will have been ennobling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ennoble

1425–75; late Middle English ennobelen < Middle French, Old French ennoblir. See en- ¹, noble

Explanation

To ennoble someone is to make them a Lord or a Baroness — to bestow a noble title upon them. The Queen of England has the power to ennoble people, turning Paul McCartney into Sir Paul McCartney, for example. One way to use the verb ennoble is to mean, literally, "make someone a noble or a member of the nobility." It can also mean "bestow or lend dignity to" or "make dignified." You could say, "Reading great books ennobles the mind," or "Treating others with kindness ennobles a person." Ennoble comes from the Old French ennoblir, from the prefix en-, "put in," and the Latin root nobilis, "excellent, superior, or splendid."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ennoble ennobles ennobled ennobling

Framing the Declaration as more than a manifesto establishing a new nation, Coolidge described it as “everywhere to ennoble humanity.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

To ennoble what could seem a shallow, idiosyncratic gesture, I call this campaign the post-nominal revolution, hoping for a future when you will never have to use anyone’s name, ever.

From New York Times ● May 30, 2019

The number of people who, out of civic generosity, think that they can enlarge or ennoble their selves by giving their energies to a good larger than themselves?

From Salon ● May 27, 2019

For Hegel, as Hägglund reads him, a religious institution is really just a community that has come together to ennoble “a governing set of norms—a shared understanding of what counts as good and just.”

From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2019

At one and twenty she was a beautiful woman, with that nameless air of distinction which can ennoble the plainest face and figure.

From Diana Tempest, Volume I (of 3) by Mary Cholmondeley

It’s a great, and possibly fictitious, myth that ennobles an ethos of isolated bravery.

From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2024

Bel Powley and Liev Schreiber breathe life and tenderness into Miep and Otto's partnership, and Powley ennobles Miep with a range of emotions including a plausible measure of humor.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2023

We’d like to believe that suffering instructs and ennobles; that our grief, fear and pain increases our sympathy for the grief, fear and pain of others.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 6, 2020

Rubenhold ennobles five Victorian-era women who were best known as victims and, in doing so, rebukes the bloody fixations of the true-crime genre.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 19, 2019

Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and ennobles.

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Miscellany by Robert Green Ingersoll

Better to live in a world where freedom of expression is ubiquitous than one where the “truth” is told to us by a few ennobled journalists.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

The veteran politician was MP for Nelson and Colne from 1974 and 1979 and for Warrington from 1981 to 1997 before being ennobled as Lord Hoyle.

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2024

But on the very eve of publication, Trevor-Roper, who had been ennobled as Baron Dacre, called to say he had changed his mind and now felt they were forgeries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2023

And that is the thing about generative AI and language learning models: They exist only by feeding on the ennobled human soul.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2023

These opportunities, therefore, made these men successful, and their outstanding virtue enabled them to recognize that opportunity, whereby their nation was ennobled and became extremely happy.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

For readers new to his work, the novel is an accessible introduction to the author’s prose style and thematic interests, including the ennobling effects of romantic love and beauty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Shostakovich’s detractors have accused him of ennobling Stalin while defenders have sought out subtle musical cues of dissent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024

People teach, Keegin said, "because they believe in the ennobling of the human soul through encounters with the great minds of the past."

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2023

Philanthropy, the ennobling pursuit of the rich and famous, is in the headlines.

From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2022

And this confession made his romantic gestures all the more ennobling.

From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan