ennoble

[ en-noh-buhl ]

verb (used with object)

, en·no·bled, en·no·bling.

1. to elevate in degree, excellence, or respect; dignify; exalt:

   a personality ennobled by true generosity.

2. to confer a title of nobility on.

ennoble

/ ɪˈnəʊbəl /

verb

1. to make noble, honourable, or excellent; dignify; exalt
2. to raise to a noble rank; confer a title of nobility upon

Derived Forms

• enˈnobler, noun
• enˈnoblement, noun
• enˈnobling, adjective

Other Words From

• en·noble·ment noun
• en·nobler noun
• en·nobling·ly adverb
• unen·nobled adjective
• unen·nobling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ennoble¹

1425–75; late Middle English ennobelen < Middle French, Old French ennoblir. See en- ¹, noble

Example Sentences

The report, which has made several recommendations to make the industry a safe place for women, says their inquiry and recommendations are not to find fault with any individual, but "an earnest attempt to ennoble a profession so that it becomes a viable career option for aspiring artists and technicians, both male and female".

From BBC

In the seven decades since the publication of “Invisible Man,” writers ranging from Toni Morrison and Edward P. Jones to Jesmyn Ward and Colson Whitehead have chosen storytelling modes featuring postmodernism, magic realism, and both lyric and gritty realism to explore and ennoble the ordinary and extraordinary lives of Black people past and present.

From New York Times

What Gadsby did was give the audience permission — moral permission — to turn their backs on what challenged them, and to ennoble a preference for comfort and kitsch.

From New York Times

And it just can’t be that the immense career of Harry Belafonte — with its milestones and breakthroughs, with its risks and hazards, with its triumphs and disappointments, with its doubling as a living archive of the latter half of a 20th-century America that he fought to ennoble — can be summed up by the time he spent talking to the Count.

From New York Times

One of U2’s enduring strengths has been the way its songs ennoble yearning and turbulence.

From New York Times