word | patrician |
---|---|
definition | A person of high birth or of good breeding and cultivation; an aristocrat. |
eg_sentence | They passed themselves off as patricians, and no one looked too closely at where their money came from. |
explanation | A patrician was originally a descendant of one of the original citizen families of ancient Rome. Until about 350 B.C., only patricians could hold the office of senator, consul, or pontifex (priest). Later, the word was applied to members of the nobility created by the Roman emperor Constantine. As time went by, other nobles, such as those in medieval Italian republics and in German city-states, also came to be known as patricians. Today someone's appearance, manners, or tastes can be described as patrician, whether the person is actually of high birth or not. The actress Grace Kelly, an immigrant's daughter, was admired for her patrician beauty even before she became Princess Grace of Monaco, with classic features worthy of ancient Rome's finest sculptors |
IPA | pəˈtrɪʃən |
Tags: mwvb::unit:20, mwvb::unit:20:word, mwvb::word, mwvb::word-cloze, mwvb::word-reverse, obsidian_to_anki
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.
Next card: Patriarchy man claimed women patriarch family group government
Previous card: Pater/patr greek latin word father patron assumes fatherly
Up to card list: Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Builder LITE (English)