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In Medieval Spain and Portugal, the grandes ("great ones," from Latin grandis, meaning "great") were at the pinnacle of the ranks of rich and powerful nobles. A grandee (as it came to be spelled in English) could wear a hat in the presence of the king and queen—the height of privilege—and he alone could address a letter directly to royalty. (Even Christopher Columbus had to direct his reports of the New World to an important noble at court, who read them to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.) Today the term can still be applied to nobility, but it can also be used for anyone of importance and influence anywhere, such as the "pin-striped grandees of London's financial district."
Examples of grandee in a Sentence
Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2025
To go on about Volcker—who surely was an excellent Fed chair—is to mistake grandees for the action that mattered.
—Brian Domitrovic, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2024
Or has the shock of encountering the wild variety of views visible on Elon Musk’s X just been too much for grandees used to moving in circles where the acceptable boundaries of disagreement are narrowly drawn?
—The Editors, National Review, 10 Oct. 2024
Their accomplishments also earned them the attention of the grandees in Beijing.
—Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Grandee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandee. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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grandee
noun
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