noble
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English, from Old French noble, from Latin nōbilis (“knowable, known, well-known, famous, celebrated, high-born, of noble birth, excellent”), from nōscere, gnōscere (“to know”).
False cognate of Arabic نبيل (nabīl). Displaced native Middle English athel, from Old English æþele.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈnəʊbəl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈnoʊbəl/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -əʊbəl
- Hyphenation: no‧ble
Noun
editnoble (plural nobles)
- An aristocrat; one of aristocratic blood. [from 14th c.]
- (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, Areopagitica:
- 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, published 2012, page 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.
Hyponyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:nobleman
Derived terms
editTranslations
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Adjective
editnoble (comparative nobler or more noble, superlative noblest or most noble)
- Having honorable qualities; having moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean or dubious in conduct and character.
- Synonyms: great, honorable
- Antonyms: despicable, ignoble, mean, vile
- He made a noble effort.
- He is a noble man who would never put his family in jeopardy.
- 1997, 1:44:10 from the start, in The Fifth Element[1] (Science Fiction / Action), →ISBN, →OCLC:
- Korben, I realize you must be pretty mad at me. But I want you to know that I am fighting for a noble cause. / Yes, you're trying to save the world. I remember.
- Grand; stately; magnificent; splendid.
- a noble edifice
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- Of exalted rank; of or relating to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn.
- (chemistry) Of an element, unreactive.
- (winemaking) Belonging to a class of grape cultivars traditionally considered most favorable for winemaking, usually encompassing the six: Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay, and Riesling.
- (geometry, of a polyhedron) Both isohedral and isogonal.
Derived terms
editTranslations
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See also
editFurther reading
edit- “noble”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “noble”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “noble”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
editAsturian
editAdjective
editCatalan
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editnoble m or f (masculine and feminine plural nobles)
Derived terms
editNoun
editnoble m or f by sense (plural nobles)
Further reading
edit- “noble” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “noble”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “noble” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “noble” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
French
editEtymology
editInherited from Middle French, from Old French noble, borrowed from Latin nōbilis according to the TLFi dictionary.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editnoble (plural nobles)
- noble, aristocratic
- (of material) non-synthetic, natural; fine
- noble, worthy (thoughts, cause etc.)
Derived terms
editDescendants
editNoun
editnoble m or f by sense (plural nobles)
- noble (person who is noble)
References
edit- Etymology and history of “noble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Further reading
edit- “noble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editnoble
- inflection of nobel:
Middle English
editEtymology
editFrom Old French noble, from Latin nōbilis.
Adjective
editnoble
Descendants
edit- English: noble
Middle French
editEtymology
editFrom Old French, from Latin nōbilis.
Adjective
editnoble m or f (plural nobles)
Old French
editEtymology
editAdjective
editnoble m (oblique and nominative feminine singular noble)
Romanian
editAdjective
editnoble m or f or n (masculine plural nobli, feminine and neuter plural noble)
Declension
editsingular | plural | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | |||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | noble | noble | nobli | noble | |||
definite | noblele | noblea | noblii | noblele | ||||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | noble | noble | nobli | noble | |||
definite | noblelui | noblei | noblilor | noblelor |
References
editSpanish
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editnoble m or f (masculine and feminine plural nobles)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “noble”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28
Swedish
editAdjective
editnoble
Anagrams
edit- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵneh₃-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/əʊbəl
- Rhymes:English/əʊbəl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with quotations
- English adjectives
- en:Chemistry
- en:Wine
- en:Geometry
- en:Nobility
- en:Personality
- en:Feudalism
- en:People
- Asturian lemmas
- Asturian adjectives
- Catalan terms borrowed from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns with no feminine ending
- Catalan masculine nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns
- Catalan nouns with multiple genders
- Catalan masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French feminine nouns
- French nouns with multiple genders
- French masculine and feminine nouns by sense
- fr:Nobility
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Latin
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- enm:Feudalism
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Latin
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French adjectives
- Old French terms borrowed from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French adjectives
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian adjectives
- Romanian obsolete forms
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/oble
- Rhymes:Spanish/oble/2 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish adjective forms