noble

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noble

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From 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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊbəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊbəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊbəl
• Hyphenation: no‧ble

noble (plural nobles)

1. An aristocrat; one of aristocratic blood.

   Antonyms: commoner, plebeian

   This country house was occupied by nobles in the 16th century.

2. (historical) A medieval gold coin of England in the 14th and 15th centuries, usually valued at 6s 8d.
   • 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.

• See also Thesaurus:nobleman

noble (comparative nobler or more noble, superlative noblest or most noble)

1. 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 (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.

2. 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.

3. Of exalted rank; of or relating to the nobility; distinguished from the masses by birth, station, or title; highborn.

   Synonym: superior

   Antonyms: inferior, plebeian

   noble blood; a noble personage

4. (chemistry) Of an element, unreactive.
5. (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.
6. (geometry, of a polyhedron) Both isohedral and isogonal.

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• honorable

• “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.

• Bolen, Lebon, Nobel

noble (epicene, plural nobles)

1. noble

Borrowed from Latin nōbilis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencia)

noble m or f (masculine and feminine plural nobles)

1. noble

• gas noble
• noblement
• noblesa

noble m or f by sense (plural nobles)

1. noble

• “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.

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French noble, borrowed from Latin nōbilis according to the TLFi dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /nɔbl/

• Audio; “un noble”:

  (file)

noble (plural nobles)

1. noble, aristocratic
2. (of material) non-synthetic, natural; fine
3. noble, worthy (thoughts, cause etc.)

• → Danish: nobel
• → German: nobel

noble m or f by sense (plural nobles)

1. noble (person who is noble)

• Etymology and history of “noble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

• “noble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnoːblə/

• Audio:

  (file)

noble

1. inflection of nobel:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

From Old French noble, from Latin nōbilis.

noble

1. noble

• English: noble

From Old French, from Latin nōbilis.

noble m or f (plural nobles)

1. noble

From Latin nōbilis.

noble m (oblique and nominative feminine singular noble)

1. noble; upper-class; well-bred

   Synonyms: avenant, cortois

noble m or f or n (masculine plural nobli, feminine and neuter plural noble)

1. Obsolete form of nobil.

• noble in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

From Latin nōbilis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnoble/
• Rhymes: -oble
• Syllabification: no‧ble

noble m or f (masculine and feminine plural nobles)

1. noble

• “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

noble

1. definite natural masculine singular of nobel

• Nobel, nobel