as in aristocratic
of high birth, rank, or station
skeptics have argued that these dramatic masterpieces must have been written by someone more highborn than one William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon
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Recent Examples of highborn
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for highborn
Adjective
-
Unlike many royal spouses of the past, Princess Kate wasn't born into an aristocratic family with nobility or royal titles.—
Stephanie Petit,
People.com,
6 July 2025
-
In an aristocratic residence near Cassis on the Mediterranean coast, Camp Joli is prepping itself for its second season.—
Chrissie McClatchie,
Travel + Leisure,
6 July 2025
Adjective
-
Royal titles are reserved for those born into or marrying into the family, while dukedoms and other noble titles are passed down through a family or granted by the reigning monarch.—
Stephanie Petit,
People.com,
6 July 2025
-
He’s covered in sweat and using a scrap of cardboard as a fan—not for himself, but for the tides of people who pass him, in a noble effort to keep them cool.—
Richard Collett,
Saveur,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Highborn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highborn. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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