as in nobleman
a man of high birth or social position
only a Spanish grandee—and no one of lesser rank—can address comments to the king and queen of Spain
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Recent Examples of grandee
An editor could pick up the phone and try to get a former secretary of state or the treasury, a grandee of the House or Senate, and probably even ex-president or vice-president and pitch them to review a book with a reasonable chance of success.
—
Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Suffice it to say, with credentials such as this, a charivari of fashion-week regulars, media, film and musical grandees and not a few New York and London tatterdemalions showed for the September 12 bacchanal on Church Street.
—Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
In those days, the thing to do when opening a new store was partner with a local charity to host a big event: Make nice with the hometown grandees, bring in some likely customers.
—Gene Pressman, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2025
Instead, the concept has been perverted to mean higher-ed grandees' exclusive right to determine who participates in scholarly life.
—Ilya Shapiro, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grandee
Literary Hub, 10 Feb. 2026
Suffice it to say, with credentials such as this, a charivari of fashion-week regulars, media, film and musical grandees and not a few New York and London tatterdemalions showed for the September 12 bacchanal on Church Street.
—Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
In those days, the thing to do when opening a new store was partner with a local charity to host a big event: Make nice with the hometown grandees, bring in some likely customers.
—Gene Pressman, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2025
Instead, the concept has been perverted to mean higher-ed grandees' exclusive right to determine who participates in scholarly life.
—Ilya Shapiro, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grandee
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grandee
Noun
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During the five years between the Battle of Puebla and Mexico’s independence, France installed an emperor, Austrian nobleman Maximilian I, who brought with him brewers from his home country.—
Jay R. Brooks,
Mercury News,
30 Apr. 2026
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The protagonist of Father Goriot, Rastignac arrives in the capital a poor and sheltered nobleman eager to carve out a place for himself in high society.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The gentleman sitting next to me in the helicopter is monitoring both the pilot’s flight path and the weather from an app on his phone.—
Viju Mathew,
Robb Report,
25 Apr. 2026
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The wine steward came to our table with a bottle of wine, saying that a gentleman at another table would be honored to present this to me and my friends.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Grandee.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grandee. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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