patrician

Syllables: pa·tri·cian/pəˈtɹɪʃən/

patrician noun: a member of any of the families constituting the populus Romanus, or body of Roman citizens, before the development of the plebeian order; later, one who, by right of birth or by special privilege conferred, belonged to the senior class of Romans, who, with certain property, had by right a seat in the Roman Senate.

Noun

patrician (plural patricians)

(Ancient-Rome) A member of any of the families constituting the populus Romanus, or body of Roman citizens, before the development of the plebeian order; later, one who, by right of birth or by special privilege conferred, belonged to the senior class of Romans, who, with certain property, had by right a seat in the Roman Senate.
- Noble Patricians, Patrons of my right, / Defend the iuſtice of my Cauſe with Armes.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
A person of high birth; a nobleman.
- The emperor elevated several loyal families to the status of patricians.
One familiar with the works of the Christian Fathers; one versed in patristic lore or life.

Adjective (1)

patrician (comparative more patrician, superlative most patrician)

Of or pertaining to the Roman patres (“fathers”) or senators, or patricians.
- […] I ſee
  Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field
  Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter,
  His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, pages 1-2
- The cognomen was first used in patrician families, who were distinguished from the plebeians by their three names.1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiv
Of or pertaining to a person of high birth; noble; not plebeian; aristocratic.
- born in the patrician file of society1829 May 2, [Walter Scott], Anne of Geierstein; or, The Maiden of the Mist. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Co., […]; London...
Characteristic of or appropriate to a person of high birth; classy.
- Hanks' taste in projects and directors is undoubtedly patrician and with a few exceptions like 1993's Philadelphia, the first mainstream film about the Aids crisis, rarely provocative2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC
Politically active to help people in lower classes, especially in a patronizing or condescending way.
- It will speed the shrivelling of the patrician “one nation” Tories, who tried to curb the extremes of Thatcherism and ended by providing its veils.1995, New Statesman Society
- Saint-Simon was certainly a radical, and hostile to inherited privilege, but his bourgeois 'socialism' was of a patrician kind. Science, being a firm and certain kind of knowledge, a 'religion of Newton' or 'cult of Reason' essentially plays the key role in his grand scheme for social engineering.2013 July 18, Doctor Martin Parker, Valerie Fournier, Patrick Reedy, The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and Organization, Zed Books Ltd., →ISBN

Adjective (2) capitalized: Patrician

Patrician (not comparable)

Of or relating to Saint Patrick.

patrician meaning in Bengali and Malayalam

patrician in Bengali

অভিজাত বংশীয় ব্যক্তি

patrician in Malayalam

noble, aristocrat, grandee: കുല്യൻ, കുലീനൻ, മൗലൻ, അഭിജാതൻ, തറവാടി, തറവാട്ടുകാരൻ
noble, aristocratic, titled: കുലീനം, അഭിജാതം, ഉന്നതകുലജാതം, ആഢ്യ, ജാത്യ, വര

Examples of patrician in a sentence

Of the twenty patrician fetials, only four were customarily chosen to serve in an embassy.
At 6 feet 3 inches tall, he resembles the patrician Carlton Fisk more than the squatty Thurman Munson.
We all had on tuxedos and the women were in their dresses and serious patrician shoes and splendid earwear.

All 14 example sentences with patrician

Forms of patrician

Noun
plural	patricians
alternative form (obsolete)	patritian
Adjective
comparative	more patrician
superlative	most patrician

Plural of patrician: patricians

Origin of patrician

Borrowed from Middle French patricien, from Latin patricius, derived from patrēs cōnscrīptī (“Roman senators”). May also have been derived from Latin patricius + -ian

Words formed from patrician

Phrases with patrician

patrician blues

Words that rhyme with patrician

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about patrician

What does patrician mean?: Patrician means a member of any of the families constituting the populus Romanus, or body of Roman citizens, before the development of the plebeian order; later, one who, by right of birth or by special privilege conferred, belonged to the senior class of Romans, who, with certain property, had by right a seat in the Roman Senate.
What is patrician in Bengali?: Patrician in Bengali is অভিজাত বংশীয় ব্যক্তি. See Patrician meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is patrician?: Patrician can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce patrician?: Patrician is pronounced /pəˈtɹɪʃən/.
What is the plural of patrician?: The plural of patrician is patricians.

Words near patrician in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: patrician (page history and authors); Patrician (page history and authors); patrician (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); patrician (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-patrician.wav.

Cite this entry: “patrician.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/patrician. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.