patrician

pa·tri·cian

noun \pə-ˈtri-shən\

Definition of PATRICIAN

1

: a member of one of the original citizen families of ancient Rome

2

a : a person of high birth : aristocrat b : a person of breeding and cultivation

— patrician adjective

Examples of PATRICIAN

1. <the Southern patricians who once resided in these stately plantation homes>

Origin of PATRICIAN

Middle English patricion, from Anglo-French patrician, from Latin patricius, from patres senators, from plural of pater father — more at father

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to PATRICIAN

Synonyms: aristocrat, blue blood, gentle, noble, gentleperson

Related Words: socialite, swell; magnate, magnifico, mogul, nabob; gentlefolk (also gentlefolks)

Near Antonyms: canaille, commoner, pleb, plebeian, proletarian, roturier; boor, fellah, peasant, peon

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Other Sociology Terms

bourgeois, ethos, eugenics, exurb, incommunicado, intelligentsia, megalopolis, metrosexual, mores, subculture

Rhymes with PATRICIAN

addition, admission, ambition, attrition, audition, beautician, clinician, cognition, coition, commission, condition, contrition, demission, dentition, dismission, Domitian, edition, emission, ethician, fruition, ignition, Kittitian, lenition, logician, magician, Mauritian, monition, mortician, munition, musician, nutrition, omission, optician, partition, perdition, permission, petition, Phoenician, physician, Politian, position, punition, remission, rendition, sedition, submission, suspicion, tactician, technician, tradition, transition, transmission, tuition, volition