ignoble

Borrowed from Middle French ignoble, from Latin ignōbilis, from in- (“not”) + gnōbilis, later nōbilis (“noble”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪɡˈnəʊbəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊbəl

• Audio (Southern England):

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ignoble (comparative ignobler, superlative ignoblest)

1. Not noble; plebeian; common.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     I was not ignoble of descent.

2. Not honorable; base.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     A base, ignoble mind, / That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

   • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:

     far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife

3. Not a true or "noble" falcon; said of certain hawks, such as the goshawk.
4. (chemistry) Of an element, dangerously reactive.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:ignoble.

• (common): common, plebeian, vulgar
• (not honorable): degenerate, mean, base, vile, low-minded, reproachful, shameful, disgraceful

• (antonym(s) of “common”): noble
• (antonym(s) of “not honorable”): noble, honorable

• ignobility
• ignobleness
• ignobly

ignoble (third-person singular simple present ignobles, present participle ignobling, simple past and past participle ignobled)

1. To make ignoble; to bring low.

• Gobelin, gobline, inglobe

Inherited from Middle French ignoble, borrowed from Latin ignōbilis, from in- (“not”) + gnōbilis, later nōbilis (“noble”).

• IPA^(key): /i.ɲɔbl/

ignoble (plural ignobles)

1. disgusting, repulsive, horrible

• “ignoble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• gobelin