patrician
/pəˈtrɪʃ(ə)n
/noun
1An aristocrat or nobleman.Ideology justifies the rule of each ruling class, whether as chieftains, patricians, landowners, or those with capital, the bourgeoisie....
- The children in Chardin's paintings are not little patricians but youngsters from his personal circle of craftsmen and small traders.
- What are her obligations as the last of the patricians?
Synonyms
aristocrat, grandee, noble, nobleman, noblewoman, lord, lady, peer, peeress, peer of the realm, titled man/woman/person, landowner;
landowning class, landed gentry/aristocracy
informal top person
British informal nob, rah, chinless wonder
1.1North American A member of a long-established wealthy family.He's a wealthy patrician, but he does have an impressive record of military service....
- Like so many other young British patricians, he was saved from becoming a complete emotional cripple by a tenderhearted nanny.
- Unlike many Virginia patricians of his time, he was able both to live elegantly and to preserve his property.
1.2A member of a noble family or class in ancient Rome.The intention was to recreate the environment of the patricians of ancient Rome and to celebrate agrarian, pastoral, Christian, and cultured life....
- Between 500 and 300 B.C., there developed within the body of the citizenry, a division between two social groups or classes: patricians and plebeians.
- Montague has learned from Beckett; in both there is the iron resignation and sadness of a Roman patrician, a Cicero, or, better perhaps, a Seneca.
adjective
1Belonging to or characteristic of the aristocracy: a proud, patrician face...
- As industrial employment declined, the luxury of patrician landowners living from landed income maintained the demand for urban services.
- But that is a fault of the patrician government.
- And her patrician demeanour bespeaks her standing in the sport over which she has reigned supreme for a period spanning three Olympics.
Synonyms
aristocratic, noble, noble-born, of noble birth, titled, blue-blooded, high-born, well born, upper-class, elite, landowning, landed, born with a silver spoon in one's mouth;
British county, upmarket
informal upper-crust, top-drawer, {huntin', shootin', and fishin'}
archaic gentle, of gentle birth
1.1North American Belonging to or characteristic of a long-established and wealthy family.If I had to draw a parallel I would say they are like the patrician families of the reconstruction American South, trying to maintain their historic dominance after the end of slavery....
- Perhaps it was from this socially secure family that Reynold received his patrician ease, his apparent freedom from self-doubt, and his refined aesthetic sense.
- The major department stores, while one might be a bit trendier and another a bit more patrician, all sell pretty much the same stuff.
1.2Belonging to the nobility of ancient Rome.She became the idol of patrician society of Rome....
- Make time for Rome's patrician galleries - private collections of the great princes, in many cases still right in the family palace where they were first hung.
- This was the era of patrician history, when scholars followed the great classical historians in holding up to posterity examples of errors, failings, and laudable deeds.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French patricien, from Latin patricius 'having a noble father', from pater, patr- 'father'.
plebeian from mid 16th century:
This is based on Latin plebeius, from plebs, ‘the common people’, as opposed to the more aristocratic patricians who were the ‘fathers of their country’, getting their name from Latin pater ‘father’ (source of other words such as paternal (Late Middle English)). The same base is shared by plebiscite from the same period.