noblesse oblige

1. 1.

   the obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous (often used ironically)

   Broaderduty

   French

Questions about noblesse oblige

What does noblesse oblige mean?

noblesse oblige means "the obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous (often used ironically)".

Is noblesse oblige a common word?

noblesse oblige is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.