What does ignobility mean?
Ignobility is a formal noun meaning the absence of moral nobility. It refers especially to conduct or character that is base, mean, corrupt, or dishonourable, as in a description of a regime's political ignobility. The word is not generally used to mean an ordinary lack of social status; its focus is on moral failure and the deliberate absence of qualities associated with dignity, honour, and integrity. Although uncommon in contemporary English, ignobility appears readily in formal commentary, literary criticism, and historical writing. Its rarity and strongly negative connotation make it more forceful than a general word such meanness or dishonesty. The word can also be used more broadly for any profound degradation or disgraceful quality, but such usage is less common than its moral sense. Its long Latin ancestry connects it with noble and nobility, while the negative prefix in- gives it a meaning closely opposed to those terms.
nounThe quality of being ignoble; a lack of moral nobility marked by baseness, meanness, or dishonour.
- Lack of moral nobility; baseness, meanness, or dishonour in character or conduct.
"The speech offered no defence of the ignobility of the government's actions."
"The testimony revealed the depth of the family's ignobility."
"Historians condemned the political ignobility of the regime's treatment of dissenters."
The regular plural is grammatically standard, although the word itself is uncommon.
"The historian catalogued the ignobilities of the regime."
Ignobility turns nobility inside out: where nobility suggests elevated character, ignobility names its deliberate opposite.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ignobility come from?
Ignobility belongs to the English vocabulary of noble, nobility, and ignoble. Its Latin ancestry is ignobilitas, a noun formed from ignobilis, meaning “not noble,” from the Latin prefix in- and nobilis, “noble.” In English, the word became the noun counterpart of ignoble and developed its modern sense of moral baseness or dishonour.
How ignobility is actually used
Rare and formal. It usually describes character, conduct, or actions and carries a strongly condemnatory moral connotation rather than referring simply to low social status.
Easily confused with ignobility
Ignobility means baseness or a lack of moral nobility, whereas ignorability means the quality of being capable of being ignored.