noblesse oblige
noun
Simple meaning
The obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nohblehsuhblyjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
noʊbˈlɛsəbˈlaɪdʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous (often used ironically)
The honourable obligation that is the responsibility of those of high rank; in American English this often includes the expectation of benevolent actions such as helping those less fortunate.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous (often used ironically)
Used this way, noblesse oblige is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Generous and giving
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.