How to Use noblesse oblige in a Sentence

noblesse oblige

noun

• He was raised to have a strong sense of noblesse oblige.
• Catholic social justice with a hint of noblesse oblige.
  — New York Times, 5 May 2020
• One feels in Chiang Mai the same sense of pride, of noblesse oblige, that one senses in other ancient cities with wealthy, royal pasts, like, say, Jaipur and Kyoto; this is a storied place.
  — Hanya Yanagihara, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Jan. 2022
• But the old spirit of noblesse oblige was often troubled by a certain condescension, a sense that rules are for the little people.
  — Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2020
• Graham had a medical degree and was living in settlement housing, where the wealthy lived alongside the poor, which appealed to his sense of noblesse oblige.
  — Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2020
• Everything is up to date in this museum of video screens and touch panels except its founding principle, which is the old noblesse oblige.
  — Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2020
• Much more significant than a one-time $50-million noblesse oblige gesture.
  — Aaron Pressman, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2018
• Though Alger indeed extols the virtues of hard work, prayer, honesty and saving, his books also hinge upon chance encounters and the noblesse oblige of someone much higher on the class ladder.
  — New York Times, 5 Apr. 2022
• So, his children and certain of his grandchildren became fully aware of an obligation that is characterized by the phrase noblesse oblige.
  — Jamie Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Oct. 2020
• It’s as if their presence alone is meant to satisfy some sort of writerly noblesse oblige. Downton Abbey, with its water cooler twists, brought the TV period drama into the 21st century.
  — Judy Berman, Time, 20 Jan. 2022
• Where others see noblesse oblige, in other words, Giridharadas spies disingenuous self-dealing.
  — Fortune, 20 Aug. 2019
• It’s noblesse oblige — a thousand-watt sign of Hollywood approval, her sparkling, violet eyes and chirpy voice inspiring America’s moral and social advancement.
  — Armond White, National Review, 14 Dec. 2022
• This job of noblesse oblige raises a host of uncomfortable ethical conundrums, but Peter, in typical fashion, squares them away by showing his self-awareness.
  — Ryu Spaeth, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
• His Zorro dedicates himself to the equitable treatment of every citizen and rouses his fellow caballeros to practice a democratic form of noblesse oblige.
  — Washington Post, 1 Jan. 2021
• And, unlike the goal of simply becoming fabulously wealthy — which one could also accomplish by winning the lottery or marrying a nonroyal oil magnate — princesshood came with a sense of noblesse oblige.
  — Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2020
• Taken further, these credos of noblesse oblige could be viewed as an open invitation for reverse discrimination.
  — Sam Walker, WSJ, 6 Oct. 2018
• Equality of opportunity has produced a new meritocratic aristocracy that has all the aloofness of the old aristocracy with none of its sense of noblesse oblige.
  — The Economist, 25 Jan. 2018

Last Updated: 24 Jul 2024