righteous stresses guiltlessness or blamelessness and often suggests the sanctimonious.
wished to be righteous before God and the world
noble implies moral eminence and freedom from anything petty, mean, or dubious in conduct and character.
had the noblest of reasons for seeking office
Example Sentences
Adjective He was a man of noble character. It was noble of her to come forward with this information. Noun an elite school for children of nobles
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Amid tension in 1980s India, three friends of different faiths unite in a noble yet dangerous effort to save hundreds in their town. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 11 Sep. 2022 The Agojie here are universally noble and good and the enemy strictly bad, either brutes or mustache twirlers. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 10 Sep. 2022 The eldest Sharma sister, Kate shows up to town trying to find a suitable (and noble) husband for her sister, Edwina. Jill Gleeson, Country Living, 9 Sep. 2022 Miriam Ungría y López is now the member of three noble families. Emily Burack, Town & Country, 7 Sep. 2022 The hospital administration has suggested Baribeau’s willingness to take on the most desperate cases was a noble effort to help high-risk patients.BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2022 To many, the reasons for going into Afghanistan probably seemed noble and clear.Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2022 For those with deep enough pockets, there is a mansion in Michigan that can grant a taste of that noble lifestyle. Hunter Boyce, ajc, 2 Sep. 2022 Gorbachev – championed by Western nations for helping end the Cold War and awarded a noble peace prize for his efforts to slow the nuclear arms race – holds a legacy that stand at odds with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Caitlin Mcfall, Fox News, 1 Sep. 2022
Noun
The rebellion began in 1648, when an influential Cossack, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, saw his lands seized and his son attacked by a Polish noble. Timothy Snyder, The New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2022 Researchers speculate the silver seal may have been owned by a noble who was unaware it was set with a Roman gem. David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 May 2021 That colonial label came from the same English noble—Thomas West of Wherwell, the third Baron De La Warr—whose name the English also stuck on a big river and a small colony, by its mouth, that later became a state. Joshua Jelly-schapiro, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2021 Margaret was removed from power and forced into exile while John Stewart, the Duke of Albany—a pro-French, anti-England noble favored by Parliament, who also happened to be Margaret's late husband's cousin—took over as regent for her son, James V. Liz Cantrell, Town & Country, 9 Oct. 2020 Menlo Castle Menlo Castle in western Ireland was built in the 16th century as an estate for the Blake family of English nobles. Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Mar. 2020 Also on this day: 44 B.C.: Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.Fox News, 15 Mar. 2020 This is partly because the country is a historical fusion of small states and cities that were once run by princes and nobles, all determined to prove their cultural prowess. Catherine Hickley, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2020 Some researchers say the events of 378 may have been a more limited case of palace intrigue, with the nobles of one powerful region elbowing their way into the politics of another. Lizzie Wade, Science | AAAS, 27 Feb. 2020 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin nobilis well-known, noble, from noscere to come to know — more at know