patrician
a person of noble or high rank; aristocrat.
a person of very good background, education, and refinement.
a member of the original senatorial aristocracy in ancient Rome.
(under the later Roman and Byzantine empires) a title or dignity conferred by the emperor.
a member of a hereditary ruling class in certain medieval German, Swiss, and Italian free cities.
of high social rank or noble family; aristocratic.
befitting or characteristic of persons of very good background, education, and refinement: patrician tastes.
of or belonging to the patrician families of ancient Rome.
Origin of patrician
1Other words for patrician
Other words from patrician
- pa·tri·cian·hood, pa·tri·cian·ship, noun
- pa·tri·cian·ism, noun
- pa·tri·cian·ly, adverb
- pre·pa·tri·cian, adjective
- un·pa·tri·cian, adjective
Words Nearby patrician
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use patrician in a sentence
Hopkins was “a bit of a bad boy” when he was starting out — he recently celebrated his 45th year of sobriety — but despite his own volcanic energy and humor, he has often been cast as the butler or the buttoned-up patrician.
Anthony Hopkins is welcoming old age by embracing his inner child | Tim Greiving | February 25, 2021 | Washington PostYet there was another side to this cool, handsome patrician, and it set him apart from his fellow executives in the Motor City.
The Stacks: Robin Williams, More Than A Shtick Figure | Joe Morgenstern | August 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut the editor appreciated patrician breeding, so the kid came to work.
The Stacks: John Schulian’s Classic Profile of Newspaper Columnist Mike Royko | John Schulian | January 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOne of those votes belonged to Justice Lewis Powell, a well-heeled, patrician justice from Virginia appointed by Richard Nixon.
The Sodomy Case That May Sway Justice Kennedy’s Same-Sex Marriage Vote | Adam Winkler | March 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIn one corner: the patrician, privileged, well-mannered 35-year-old Quayle.
He could be unbearably glib, but his patrician persona and acid tongue, his radiating sense of superiority, made for good showbiz.
Becoming Gore Vidal: The Henry Adams of Our Age | Morris Dickstein | August 4, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTAndrea held up her hand to appease the patrician, whose exaggeration annulled his superiority.
Balsamo, The Magician | Alexander Dumas"I want you to whip this malapert with your sword-scabbard," roared the old patrician, pale with anger.
Balsamo, The Magician | Alexander DumasHowever, the six oarsmen of the patrician craft were rapidly diminishing the distance.
The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence | Eugne SueDuring this period there was little to choose between the fare of the proudest patrician and the humblest client.
The Private Life of the Romans | Harold Whetstone JohnstonFor the first eleven years after the passage of the Licinian Laws one consul was a plebeian and one a patrician.
The Two Great Republics: Rome and the United States | James Hamilton Lewis
British Dictionary definitions for patrician
/ (pəˈtrɪʃən) /
a member of the hereditary aristocracy of ancient Rome. In the early republic the patricians held almost all the higher offices: Compare plebs (def. 2)
a high nonhereditary title awarded by Constantine and his eastern Roman successors for services to the empire
(in medieval Europe)
a title borne by numerous princes including several emperors from the 8th to the 12th centuries
a member of the upper class in numerous Italian republics and German free cities
an aristocrat
a person of refined conduct, tastes, etc
(esp in ancient Rome) of, relating to, or composed of patricians
aristocratic
oligarchic and often antidemocratic or nonpopular: patrician political views
Origin of patrician
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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