patrician Hear it!

patrician definition

pa·tri·cian (pə tris̸hən)

noun

  1. in ancient Rome
    1. a member of any of the ancient Roman citizen families
    2. later, a member of the nobility
    3. a member of a class of honorary nobility of the later Empire
    4. a chief administrator in the Roman provinces in Africa and Italy
  2. a person of high rank in some medieval Italian republics and in certain free cities of the German Empire
  3. any person of high social rank; aristocrat

Etymology: ME patricion < MFr patricien < L patricius < patres, senators, lit., fathers, pl. of pater, father

adjective

  1. of or characteristic of patricians
  2. noble; aristocratic

Etymology: MFr patricien

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.