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nobility

 - 3 dictionary results

no⋅bil⋅i⋅ty

  [noh-bil-i-tee]
Use nobility in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ties.
1. the noble class or the body of nobles in a country.
2. (in Britain) the peerage.
3. the state or quality of being noble.
4. nobleness of mind, character, or spirit; exalted moral excellence.
5. grandeur or magnificence.
6. noble birth or rank.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME nobilite < L nōbilitās. See noble, -ity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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no·bil·i·ty   (nō-bĭl'ĭ-tē)   
n.   pl. no·bil·i·ties

  1. A class of persons distinguished by high birth or rank and in Great Britain including dukes and duchesses, marquises and marchionesses, earls and countesses, viscounts and viscountesses, and barons and baronesses: "The old English nobility of office made way for the Norman nobility of faith and landed wealth" (Winston S. Churchill).

  2. Noble rank or status: Congress may not grant titles of nobility.

  3. The state or quality of being exalted in character.


[Middle English nobilite, the quality of being noble, from Old French, from Latin nōbilitās, from nōbilis, noble; see noble.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

nobility 
1398, "quality of being excellent or rare," from O.Fr. nobilite (Fr. nobilité), from L. nobilitatem (nom. nobilitas) "nobleness," from nobilis "well-known, prominent" (see noble). Meaning "quality of being of noble rank or birth" is attested from c.1440; sense of "noble class collectively" is from 1530.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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