Ennoblement

/ɛˈnoʊbəlmənt/ noun

Definition

The act or process of ennobling someone, or the state of being ennobled; elevation in rank or character.

Etymology

From 'ennoble' + the suffix '-ment' (an action or result of an action), following the common English pattern of creating abstract nouns from verbs. This form became standardized in English during the 16th-17th centuries.

Kelly Says

Ennoblement was historically a concrete, legal act—a monarch would grant someone lands and titles through an official ennoblement ceremony. Today we use it more often in the abstract sense, like 'the ennoblement of the human spirit through art,' but it still carries echoes of that formal grandeur.

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