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
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 oilman here was not a nabob like Doheny, but his L.A. oil scandal was going on at the same time.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 3, 2023
This doesn’t sound like a con artist or a relentlessly negative nabob.
From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2021
The building was constructed precisely to overawe foreigners, and it is difficult not to feel small beneath the 10ft-tall painting of an Indian nabob that Lord Carrington had hung on the wall.
From BBC • May 14, 2013
The nabob was "a controversial new species of grandee who made his fortune in India and returned home to enjoy his treasure".
From The Guardian • Jan. 26, 2013
Jimmy looked up and saw a fine home that he had admired on his way out and had deduced that it belonged to the nabob of the town.
From Mixed Faces by Norton, Roy
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.
