as in nobles
someone who is well-known in fashionable society and is often seen at parties and other social events for wealthy people
Many of the city's socialites showed up for the premiere gala.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of socialites
Things take a turn when Snow, 40, who plays Sophie, moves to Texas and tries befriending the group of East Texas socialites — only for a teen girl named Abby to turn up dead.
—
Lexi Lane, PEOPLE, 10 May 2026
The old game show features a panel of urbane socialites trying to guess the occupation of regular Americans (and, blindfolded, the identity of celebrities).
—Dan Zak, The Atlantic, 3 May 2026
Vreeland has been credited with moving the gala to the Met, where guests could mingle among the museum's exhibits, and for turning the annual party -- previously an industry event for fashion insiders and socialites -- into a lavish affair full of celebrity guests and other prominent figures.
—Angeline Jane Bernabe, ABC News, 1 May 2026
Influenced In its early days, reality TV turned socialites like Paris Hilton and figures from tabloid culture like Kim Kardashian into influencers who predated the term.
—Alli Rosenbloom, CNN Money, 1 May 2026
The backstory At the height of its popularity in the 1950s and ’60s, Asteria—meaning ‘stars’ in Greek—was a playground for socialites and starlets.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Apr. 2026
Upstairs, impressionists, writers, socialites, and painters who moved in Proust’s orbit, from Sarah Bernhardt to Emile Zola and Claude Monet, lent their names to a room or suite.
—Lindsey Tramuta, Robb Report, 2 Apr. 2026
And in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Hurt played one of the New York socialites who falls into the web of deceit created by a charismatic young man (Will Smith) pretending to be the son of Sidney Poitier.
—Chris Koseluk, HollywoodReporter, 29 Mar. 2026
But, by the beginning of the Gilded Age in America in the 1870s, the sartorial code became the upper class’s go-to for the opera, debutante balls, and any of the fancy-dress parties thrown by socialites of the day.
—Vogue, 27 Mar. 2026
Lexi Lane, PEOPLE, 10 May 2026
The old game show features a panel of urbane socialites trying to guess the occupation of regular Americans (and, blindfolded, the identity of celebrities).
—Dan Zak, The Atlantic, 3 May 2026
Vreeland has been credited with moving the gala to the Met, where guests could mingle among the museum's exhibits, and for turning the annual party -- previously an industry event for fashion insiders and socialites -- into a lavish affair full of celebrity guests and other prominent figures.
—Angeline Jane Bernabe, ABC News, 1 May 2026
Influenced In its early days, reality TV turned socialites like Paris Hilton and figures from tabloid culture like Kim Kardashian into influencers who predated the term.
—Alli Rosenbloom, CNN Money, 1 May 2026
The backstory At the height of its popularity in the 1950s and ’60s, Asteria—meaning ‘stars’ in Greek—was a playground for socialites and starlets.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Apr. 2026
Upstairs, impressionists, writers, socialites, and painters who moved in Proust’s orbit, from Sarah Bernhardt to Emile Zola and Claude Monet, lent their names to a room or suite.
—Lindsey Tramuta, Robb Report, 2 Apr. 2026
And in Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Hurt played one of the New York socialites who falls into the web of deceit created by a charismatic young man (Will Smith) pretending to be the son of Sidney Poitier.
—Chris Koseluk, HollywoodReporter, 29 Mar. 2026
But, by the beginning of the Gilded Age in America in the 1870s, the sartorial code became the upper class’s go-to for the opera, debutante balls, and any of the fancy-dress parties thrown by socialites of the day.
—Vogue, 27 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for socialites
Noun
-
The son of Italian nobles, Baldassare Castiglione’s main claim to fame was writing a book of etiquette based on his experience as a courtier, a person who serves as an attendant to a king, queen, or other member of a royal family.—
René Ostberg,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
7 May 2026
-
Mexican nobles couldn’t keep household help.—
Jennifer Wilson,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
Intriguingly, the 140 selections on view, ranging from vases to books, Buddhist figurines to landscape painting, literati desk accessories to official portraiture, look nothing at all like the art favored by European aristocrats arrayed elsewhere in the Art Institute.—
Lori Waxman,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
-
In 1811 it was converted into a hotel and became the go-to destination for those on the Grand Tour, the journey across continental Europe that young aristocrats undertook to perfect their education.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
23 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Socialites.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/socialites. Accessed 17 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
