ennoble
/ɪˈnəʊb(ə)l
/ /ɛˈnəʊb(ə)l/verb [with object]
1Give (someone) a noble rank or title: they receive life baronies on appointment unless they are already ennobled...
- When he was ennobled in 1964, someone remarked he should take the title Lord Corridor of Power.
- Mountbatten's title was therefore a courtesy one until he was ennobled in 1946 as Viscount Mountbatten of Burma.
- Installed at Versailles in 1745, she was ennobled as Marquise de Pompadour, and for 20 years swayed state policy, appointing her own favourites.
Synonyms
elevate to the nobility/peerage, raise to the nobility/peerage, make/create someone a noble;
British send to the House of Lords
informal kick upstairs
archaic nobilitate
2Lend greater dignity or nobility of character to: the theatre is a moral instrument to ennoble the mind...
- In its subject matter as well as its method, physics ennobles the mind by directing it to the permanent order of the world.
- For some this preventive action has an equivalent moral authority to the great campaigns for civic reform which ennobled the twentieth century throughout the world.
- Also, speaking from personal experience, following the teachings and example of Jesus Christ has had an ennobling effect on my character.
Synonyms
dignify, honour, bestow honour on, exalt, elevate, raise, enhance, add distinction to, add dignity to, distinguish, add lustre to;
magnify, glorify, lionize, make lofty, aggrandize, upgrade
Derivatives
ennoblement
/ /ɛˈnəʊb(ə)lm(ə)nt / noun ...- Whatever the motivations of those who supported his ennoblement, however, there was no disguising the pettiness of those who opposed it.
- Besides her ennoblement as a Dame in 1993, her awards included the TS Eliot Prize and the British Literature Prize.
- Not for the benefit of others, but for the ennoblement of yourself.
Origin
Late 15th century (formerly also as innoble): from French ennoblir, from en- (expressing a change of state) + noble 'noble'.