A privileged class holding hereditary titles.

synonym: nobility.

Roget 737a: government, legal authority, soveriegn, sovereign authority; authority etc. 737; master etc. 745; direction etc. 693.    [nations] national government, nation, state, country, nation-state, dominion, republic, empire, union, democratic republic; kingdom, principality.    [subdivisions of nations] state government [Lat.], state; shire [Brit.]; province [Can.]; county [Ire.]; canton [Switz.]; territory [Austral.]; duchy, archduchy, archdukedom^†; woiwodshaft; commonwealth; region etc. 181; property etc. 780.    [smaller subdivisions] county, parish city, domain, tract, arrondissement [Fr.], mofussil^†, commune; wappentake, hundred, riding, lathe, garth^†, soke^†, tithing; ward, precinct, bailiwick.    command, empire, sway, rule; dominion, domination; sovereignty, supremacy, suzerainty; lordship, headship^†; chiefdom^†; seigniory, seigniority^†.    rule, sway, command, control, administer; govern etc. (direct) 693; lead, preside over, reign, possess the throne, be seated on the throne, occupy the throne; sway the scepter, wield the scepter; wear the crown.    state, realm, body politic, posse comitatus [Lat.].    [person in the governing authority] judicature etc. 965; cabinet etc. (council) 696; seat of government, seat of authority; headquarters.    [Acquisition of authority] accession; installation etc. 755; politics etc. 737.1. reign, regime, dynasty; directorship, dictatorship; protectorate, protectorship; caliphate, pashalic^†, electorate; presidency, presidentship^†; administration; proconsul, consulship; prefecture; seneschalship; magistrature^†, magistracy.    monarchy; kinghood^†, kingship; royalty, regality; aristarchy^†, aristocracy; oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, demagogy; commonwealth; dominion; heteronomy; republic, republicanism; socialism; collectivism; mob law, mobocracy^†, ochlocracy^†; vox populi, imperium in imperio [Lat.]; bureaucracy; beadledom^†, bumbledom^†; stratocracy; military power, military government, junta; feodality^†, feudal system, feudalism.    thearchy^†, theocracy, dinarchy^†; duarchy^†, triarchy, heterarchy^†; duumvirate; triumvirate; autocracy, autonomy; limited monarchy; constitutional government, constitutional monarchy; home rule; representative government; monocracy^†, pantisocracy^†.    gynarchy^†, gynocracy^†, gynaeocracy^†; petticoat government.    [government functions] legislature, judiciary, administration.    [Government agencies and institutions] office of the president, office of the prime minister, cabinet; senate, house of representatives, parliament; council etc. 696; courts, supreme court; [U.S. national government departments], state, interior, labor, health and human services, defense, education, agriculture, justice, commerce, treasury; Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI; Central Intelligence Agency, CIA; National Institutes of Health, NIH; Postal Service, Post Office; Federal Aviation Administration, FAA.    [national government officials] president, vice president, cabinet member, prime minister, minister; senator, representatative, president pro tem [Lat.], speaker of the house; department head, section head, section chief; federal judge, justice, justice of the supreme court, chief justice; treasurer, secretary of the treasury; director of the FBI.    [state government officials] governor, state cabinet member; state senator, assemblyman, assemblywoman.    ... show more

Roget 875: nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy^†, blood, pur sang [Fr.], birth, high descent, order; quality, gentility; blue blood of Castile; ancien regime [Fr.].    high life, haute monde [Fr.]; upper classes, upper ten thousand; the four hundred [U.S.]; elite, aristocracy, great folks; fashionable world etc. (fashion) 852.    peer, peerage; house of lords, house of peers; lords, lords temporal and spiritual; noblesse; noble, nobleman; lord, lordling^†; grandee, magnifico [Lat.], hidalgo; daimio [Jap.], daimyo [Jap.], samurai [Jap.], shizoku [Jap.]; don, donship^†; aristocrat, swell, three-tailed bashaw^†; gentleman, squire, squireen^†, patrician, laureate.    gentry, gentlefolk; squirarchy [Slang], better sort magnates, primates, optimates^†; pantisocracy^†.    king etc. (master) 745; atheling^†; prince, duke; marquis, marquisate^†; earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret^†; baronet, baronetcy^†; knight, knighthood; count, armiger^†, laird; signior^†, seignior; esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour^†; emir, ameer^†, scherif^†, sharif, effendi, wali; sahib; chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave^†, pasha, rajah, waldgrave^†.    princess, begum^†, duchess, marchioness; countess &c.; lady, dame; memsahib; Do$a, maharani, rani.    personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark; notables, notabilities; celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar; big bug; big gun, great gun; gilded rooster [U.S.]; magni nominis umbra [Lat.] [Lucan]; every inch a king" [Lear]. ... show more

Dutch: adel, aristocratie

The most powerful members of a society.

synonym: gentry.

Dutch: Gentry
Polish: jaśniepaństwo, arystokracja, możnowładztwo, magnateria