noble

Showing kindness, honesty, or courage that people admire.

• Helping them was a noble act.
• He gave his savings to a noble cause.
• It was noble of you to defend her.

How to use it: it is noble of someone to do something (It was noble of her to give the prize money away.)

Similar words: honorable, admirable, generous

Opposites: dishonorable, ignoble

Common phrases: noble act, noble cause, noble of someone, noble character

Large, beautiful, and impressive in appearance.

• A noble oak stood beside the house.
• We admired the cathedral's noble proportions.
• The palace presented a noble sight against the mountains.

Similar words: grand, magnificent, stately, splendid

Common phrases: noble building, noble proportions, noble oak

A person who belongs by birth or title to a country's highest traditional social class.

• The noble lived in a castle.
• Several nobles attended the king's wedding.
• She married a young noble from a wealthy family.

Similar words: aristocrat, nobleman, noblewoman

Opposites: commoner

Common phrases: wealthy noble, young noble, a French noble

An English gold coin used in the Middle Ages, usually worth six shillings and eight pence.

• The collector bought a gold noble.
• Several medieval nobles were found beneath the floor.
• An English noble usually had a value of six shillings and eight pence.

Common phrases: gold noble, English noble, medieval noble