Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Not noble in quality, character, or purpose; base or mean. See Synonyms at mean2.
- adj. Not of the nobility; common.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Not noble; plebeian; common.
- adj. Not honorable.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Of low birth or family; not noble; not illustrious; plebeian; common; humble.
- adj. Not honorable, elevated, or generous; base.
- adj. Not a true or noble falcon; -- said of certain hawks, as the goshawk.
- transitive v. To make ignoble.
from The 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.
- To make ignoble or vile; degrade; disgrace; bring into disrepute.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. not of the nobility
- adj. completely lacking nobility in character or quality or purpose
Etymologies
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)From Latin ignobilis, from in- (not) + gnobilis, later nobilis (noble) (Wiktionary)
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