Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Born to a genteel or aristocratic family.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of aristocratic or high-ranking birth

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

well +‎ born

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Examples

  • His children were called "wellborn," and when he died, his widow was treated as a lady of position, and that was "something."

    Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen 1840

  • One day, Derren attracted a rebellious wellborn, Salusch, as they called the lovely Saluschious Terrishial.

    G'lder Curtis Hox 2011

  • The first are the rich and wellborn, the other the mass of the people ....

    The Conservative Corruption of Progressive Thought Wattree 2010

  • He sat in his small room, and they in their gay, worldly dresses, the rich and the wellborn, as well as the simple and the illiterate, crowded into it.

    Archive 2009-05-01 2009

  • He sat in his small room, and they in their gay, worldly dresses, the rich and the wellborn, as well as the simple and the illiterate, crowded into it.

    St Philip Neri 2009

  • In practice, it was dominated by the wellborn and the rich.

    Google & the Future of Books Darnton, Robert 2009

  • She was delighted to hire on with the handsome young senator and his wellborn wife.

    How To Treat the Help? 2006

  • She was delighted to hire on with the handsome young senator and his wellborn wife.

    How To Treat the Help? 2006

  • Update (Oct. 10): Dave at OakvilleBlackWalnut sends along a clipping of the original article, which gives some additional info on the wellborn Mrs. Boone: After her husband left the University City home last May Mrs. Boone continued to live there with many servants.

    President Outranks Pioneer 2006

  • While I marvel, as so often before, at the aesthetic perversity of wellborn WASPs, Bush shakes his head and says in the same hurt voice, "Not a word of thanks."

    Were The Bushes Just 'The Help'? 2008

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