Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not noble in quality, character, or purpose; base or mean. See Synonyms at mean2.
- adj. Not of the nobility; common.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not noble; not illustrious; of low birth or station.
- Not honorable or worthy; mean in character or quality; of no consideration or value.
- In some technical uses, lacking distinction; of low grade; of little esteem. Specifically applied — In falconry, to those short-winged hawks, as species of Astur or Accipiter, which chase or rake after the quarry: in distinction from the noble or long-winged falcons, which stoop to the quarry at a single swoop. See
hawk . - To make ignoble or vile; degrade; disgrace; bring into disrepute.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of low birth or family; not noble; not illustrious; plebeian; common; humble.
- adj. Not honorable, elevated, or generous; base.
- adj. (Zoöl.) Not a true or noble falcon; -- said of certain hawks, as the goshawk.
- v. obsolete To make ignoble.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not of the nobility
- adj. completely lacking nobility in character or quality or purpose
Etymologies
- From Latin ignobilis, from in- (not) + gnobilis, later nobilis (noble) (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, of low birth, from Old French, from Latin ignōbilis : i-, in-, not; see in-1 + nōbilis, gnōbilis, noble; see noble. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He was highly vilified by foes and Nigerians in general for what they described as ignoble acts that questioned his credibility and brought disrespect to his office.”
“Even the name of the award, a play on the word "ignoble," is meant to be deprecating.”
Announcing the Year’s Winners of the IgNobel Prize | Impact Lab
“If I use my discrimination, father, I call ignoble what my father calls natural.”
“Flaubert has said that "the ignoble is the sublime of the lower slope.”
“The heart, which is supposed to be the noble part of man, has the same form as the penis, which is the so-called ignoble part of man.”
“Paaker's was, in fact, an ignoble, that is to say, a selfish nature; to shorten his road he trod down flowers as readily as he marched over the sand of the desert.”
“The noble man is the gifted man; the ignoble is the ungifted; and therefore we have only to state a simple law in simple language to have a full solution of the enigma of Reineke.”
“Such cult of the common and the ignoble is the more prejudicial because it "wars against all distinction and against the sense of elevation to be gained by respecting and admiring superiority.”
“You've betrayed your fellow liberals to settle a political score, Senator -- in order to exact some kind of ignoble payback against your former party, against your caucus and against the netroots for merely calling you out on your literal and figurative smooching of the president.”
The Huffington Post: Bob Cesca: An Open Letter To Joe Lieberman
“Al Gore joins a long list of past "ignoble" recipients like warrior presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and supporter of rogue regimes Jimmy Carter.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ignoble’.
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 481 more...
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February 2012
filiopietistic, bifurcate, enclave, wedlock, decadent, unduly, defunct, lapel, tumescent, capitulation, leaden, scintilla and 83 more...
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GRE
sycophant, obsequious, volubility, equanimity, enervate, effrontery, impertinent, platitude, impudence, quiescent, propitiate, equivocate and 103 more...
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Adjectives
impressive growth, significant, outstanding, an AILING person ..., sick, a HUMBLE person -..., DISARMING critics..., VAIN - напрасный,..., unavailing, IGNOMINOUS - пост..., shameful, ignoble and 34 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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Prep my Lang
Collection of my wordnik word search
equivocal, anomaly, proliferate, assimilate, obscure, aberration, parse, circumnavigate, circumvent, decipher, prose, impasse and 94 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ignoble.
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