noblesse
/nəʊˈblɛs
/noun [mass noun]
The nobility of a foreign country.The argument echoed historian G.M. Trevelyan's quip about the French Revolution: ‘if the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.’...
- Undaunted by the opaque mix of fact and fantasy surrounding the French noblesse and their chateaux, he has transposed to France the lines of enquiry pioneered in his acclaimed Life in the English Country House.
- And though not all redcoats are aristocrats, it is the noblesse and the classes abutting it who still run the show.
Phrases
noblesse oblige
Origin
French, literally 'nobility'.