nobility
[noh-bil-i-tee]
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Origin of nobility
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nobility
Contemporary Examples
They work anonymously and there is nobility in what they do.
I just tried to infuse it with nobility, because he was after all a king.
The “wound” is the ignorance of the nobility of the individual and of man, and the separation of all of us.
Andrew Garfield on the Evils of Capitalism, the Hacking Scandal, and Criticism of ‘Spider-Man 2’Marlow Stern
September 10, 2014
For centuries, Slane Castle has been home to Irish nobility.
Young Fred got really irritated then and pointed out all the actresses that had actually married into the nobility.
Historical Examples
Her woman's intuition was sufficient guarantee of the nobility of his character.
The Monster MenEdgar Rice Burroughs
There was in this man an Oriental nobility choked by Western fashion and customs.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
Yet even in this environment of evil we see the nobility of the man, and his real self.
A Dish Of OrtsGeorge MacDonald
Is it a good sign, that he wishes to see Royalty and Nobility?
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
My last was James Glencairn, so you can have no objection to the company of nobility.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
nobility
- a socially or politically privileged class whose titles are conferred by descent or by royal decree
- the state or quality of being morally or spiritually good; dignitythe nobility of his mind
- (in the British Isles) the class of people holding the titles of dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, or barons and their feminine equivalents collectively; peerage
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for nobility
n.
mid-14c., "quality of being excellent or rare," from Old French nobilite "high rank; dignity, grace; great deed" (12c., Modern French nobilité), and directly from Latin nobilitatem (nominative nobilitas) "celebrity, fame; high birth; excellence, superiority; the nobles," from nobilis "well-known, prominent" (see noble (adj.)). Meaning "quality of being of noble rank or birth" is attested from late 14c.; sense of "noble class collectively" is from 1520s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper