optimate means A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome; an aristocrat, a noble. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
optimate is pronounced /ˈɒptɪmeɪt/.
Why “optimate” is a great word
A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Rome, whose political allegiance was to the senatorial aristocracy, deriving from the Latin *optimātēs*, the masculine plural form of *optimās* ("best, noblest"). Unlike a *popularis*, who sought power through the mob and the popular assemblies, or a *plebeian*, born without hereditary privilege, an optimate was defined by birth and a conservative defense of senatorial authority. He is the senator in a bleached toga standing aloof from the forum's clamor; the taste of well-watered wine in a sun-dappled atrium; the unyielding stone of the Curia itself—a man forever mistaking the accident of his birth for a divine mandate, embodying an order forever believing itself too ancient and too dignified to fall.
Etymology
From Latin optimātēs, masculine plural form of optimās (“best, noblest”).
noun
- A member of the patrician ruling class in republican Ancient Rome; an aristocrat, a noble.“The elaboration of her sateen costume (somewhat dirty and torn now) showed that she was an optimate.”