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''ignoble'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''ignoble'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250825005109-00-⌔

ignoble - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

ignoble (comparative ignobler, superlative ignoblest)

  • Not noble; plebeian; common.
    • ✤ I was not ignoble of descent.1
  • Not honorable; base.
    • ✤ A base, ignoble mind,/That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.2
    • ✤ far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife3
  • Not a true or “noble” falcon; said of certain hawks, such as the goshawk.
  • (chemistry) Of an element, dangerously reactive.

Verb

ignoble (third-person singular simple present ignobles, present participle ignobling, simple past and past participle ignobled)

  • To make ignoble; to bring low.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ignoble, from Latin ignōbilis, from in- (“not”) + gnōbilis, later nōbilis (“noble”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ɪɡˈnəʊbəl/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /ɪɡˈnoʊbəl/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -əʊbəl

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]: ↩

  2. 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]: ↩

  3. 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC: ↩

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Secondary

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