patrician means of or pertaining to the Roman patres (“fathers”) or senators, or patricians. Lexicurio rates it Distinctive — a strength score of 66 out of 100.
patrician is pronounced /pəˈtɹɪʃən/.
adj
- 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.”
- Of or pertaining to a person of high birth; noble; not plebeian; aristocratic.“born in the patrician file of society”
- 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 provocative”
- 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.”
- Of or relating to Saint Patrick.
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.“Noble Patricians, Patrons of my right, / Defend the iuſtice of my Cauſe with Armes.”
- 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.