Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Benevolent, honorable behavior considered to be the responsibility of persons of high birth or rank.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
honourable obligation that is theresponsibility of those of highrank ; in American English this often includes the expectation ofbenevolent actions such as helping those less fortunate.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous (often used ironically)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French, nobility is an obligation : noblesse, nobility + oblige, third person sing. present tense of obliger, to obligate.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French, noblesse ("nobility") oblige ("obliges")
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word noblesse oblige.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
jrome commented on the word noblesse oblige
Watch Mary Poppins, it pops up in the father's opening song.
April 2, 2007