no·bil·i·ty
(n
-b
l
-t
)
KEY
NOUN:
pl.
no·bil·i·ties
- 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).
- Noble rank or status:
Congress may not grant titles of nobility.
- The state or quality of being exalted in character.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English
nobilite,
the quality of being noble, from Old French, from Latin
nbilit
s, from
nbilis,
noble ; see
noble
