1
Core meaning
A member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
Example
The estate belonged to a nineteenth-century aristocrat.
aristocrat
/ˈærɪstəkræt/ · uh-RIS-tuh-kratnoun
A member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
Use aristocrat to express this relationship precisely: a member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
What aristocrat Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common noun frame
Use this noun in a complete noun phrase, adding the complement that identifies what it refers to when needed.
Example
An aristocrat by birth, she later opposed inherited privilege.
3
Analytical distinction
Choose it when this exact concept matters; a related term may describe its cause, evidence, or opposite instead.
Example
The novel contrasts rural workers with urban aristocrats.
Use aristocrat Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The estate belonged to a nineteenth-century aristocrat.
An aristocrat by birth, she later opposed inherited privilege.
The novel contrasts rural workers with urban aristocrats.
Precision Matters
Aristocrat overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
aristocrat
vs.Means a member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
bourgeois
Means a member of the middle class, especially one associated with conventional material or commercial values.
aristocrat
vs.Means a member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
elite
Means belonging to or selected as the most skilled, powerful, privileged, or successful group.
aristocrat
vs.Means a member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
potentate
Means a monarch, ruler, or other person who holds great political power.
aristocrat
vs.Means a member of a hereditary, wealthy, or socially privileged ruling class.
courtier
Means a member or attendant of a royal court, sometimes one who seeks favour through flattery.
Test aristocrat in Context
He belongs to a privileged hereditary social class.
1
Born into a family of hereditary nobles, he was an ___ rather than an elected official.