Noble

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈnəʊbÉ™l/
• GenAm IPA: /ˈnoÊŠbÉ™l/
• Rhymes: -əʊbÉ™l
• Hyphenation: no + ble

Origin

From Middle English noble, from Old French noble, from Latin nobilis ("knowable, known, well-known, famous, celebrated, high-born, of noble birth, excellent"), from noscere, gnoscere ("to know"). Replaced native Middle English athel ("noble") (from Old English æþele) and Middle English hathel, hathelle ("noble, nobleman") (from the merger of Old English æþele ("nobleman") and Old English hæleþ ("hero")).

Full definition of noble

Noun

1. An aristocrat; one of aristocratic blood. from 14th c.This country house was occupied by nobles in the 16th century.
2. (now historical) A medieval gold coin of England in the 14th and 15th centuries, usually valued at 6s 8d. from 14th c.
• 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:I lyked no thynge his playe,
  For yf I had not quyckely fledde the touche,
  He had plucte oute the nobles of my pouche.
• 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:And who shall then stick closest to ye, and excite others? not he who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt.
• 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 93:There, before the high altar, as the choir's voices soared upwards to the blue, star-flecked ceiling, Henry knelt and made his offering of a ‘noble in gold’, 6s 8d.

Antonyms

• commoner

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• half-noble
• noble gas

Adjective

1. Having honorable qualities; having moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean or dubious in conduct and character.
   He made a noble effort.
   He is a noble man who would never put his family in jeopardy.
2. Grand; stately; magnificent; splendid.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 5, He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, …, the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
3. a noble edifice
4. Of exalted rank; of or relating to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn.
   noble blood; a noble personage

Antonyms

• ignoble

Derived terms

Anagrams

• nobel