highborn

adjective

high·​born ˈhī-ˈbȯrn How to pronounce highborn (audio)
: of noble birth

Examples of highborn in a Sentence

skeptics have argued that these dramatic masterpieces must have been written by someone more highborn than one William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon
Recent Examples on the Web
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Fans from America to Europe to Australia bought his books and flocked to his one-man shows, and his potent doses of humor and hard truth enthralled both the highborn and the humble. Mary Ann Gwinn, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2025 Long shamed for being both mixed-race and illegitimate, Dieudonné needs a highborn bride to prove his worth in the court of Louis XVI. Olivia Waite, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025 Sawai starred as Toda Mariko, a highborn woman with an important role to play in a brewing civil war among Japan’s ruling council of regents. Joe Otterson, Variety, 16 Sep. 2024 Along a road lined with thousands of pagan graves and the multilayered catacombs of the Christians, the Gothic army traveled after the three-day sack, leading wagons bulging with loot and a contingent of highborn Roman hostages, of whom by far the most valuable was the 20-year-old Placidia. Tony Perrottet, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2023 But unlike the sinisterly driven and chaste Eve—played by the highborn Anne Baxter, granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright—Miss Caswell uses her body to get ahead, providing a foil for the successful antihero. Sophie Lewis, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022 The banking dynasty’s founder, Mayer Amschel Rothschild of Frankfurt, a Jewish dealer in rare coins, began making loans and cultivating a highborn clientele in the 18th century. James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 11 Nov. 2022 Nannette, with her plain, angular face and hawklike eyes, wasn’t beautiful or highborn. Patricia Morrisroe, New York Times, 6 Nov. 2020 Live, Love, Laugh, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex AVAILABLE ITEMS PRINCELY AF sweatshirt (£80): Sharpie on a Champion-brand hooded sweatshirt—the perfect blend of highborn-lowbrow! Emily Flake, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of highborn was in the 13th century

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Cite this Entry

“Highborn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/highborn. Accessed 24 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

highborn

adjective
high·​born ˈhī-ˈbȯ(ə)rn How to pronounce highborn (audio)
: of noble birth
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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