Word Study
grandee
CIDE DICTIONARY
grandee, n. [Sp. grande. See Grand.].
A man of elevated rank or station; a nobleman. In Spain, a nobleman of the first rank, who may be covered in the king's presence. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
grandee, n.
1 a Spanish or Portuguese nobleman of the highest rank.
2 a person of high rank or eminence.
1 a Spanish or Portuguese nobleman of the highest rank.
2 a person of high rank or eminence.
Etymology
Sp. & Port. grande, assim. to -EE
THESAURUS
grandee
Brahman, archduke, aristocrat, armiger, baron, baronet, blue blood, count, daimio, duke, earl, esquire, gentleman, grand duke, hidalgo, lace-curtain, laird, landgrave, lord, lordling, magnate, magnifico, margrave, marquis, noble, nobleman, optimate, palsgrave, patrician, peer, seigneur, seignior, silk-stocking, squire, swell, thoroughbred, upper-cruster, viscount, waldgraveROGET THESAURUS
grandee
Nobility
N nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy, blood, pur sang, birth, high descent, order, quality, gentility, blue blood of Castile, ancien regime, high life, haute monde, upper classes, upper ten thousand, the four hundred, elite, aristocracy, great folks, fashionable world, peer, peerage, house of lords, house of peers, lords, lords temporal and spiritual, noblesse, noble, nobleman, lord, lordling, grandee, magnifico, hidalgo, daimio, daimyo, samurai, shizoku, don, donship, aristocrat, swell, three- tailed bashaw, gentleman, squire, squireen, patrician, laureate, gentry, gentlefolk, squirarchy, better sort magnates, primates, optimates, pantisocracy, king, atheling, prince, duke, marquis, marquisate, earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret, baronet, baronetcy, knight, knighthood, count, armiger, laird, signior, seignior, esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour, emir, ameer, scherif, sharif, effendi, wali, sahib, chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave, pasha, rajah, waldgrave, princess, begum, duchess, marchioness, countess, lady, dame, memsahib, Do$a, maharani, rani, personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark, notables, notabilities, celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar, big bug, big gun, great gun, gilded rooster, magni nominis umbra, every inch a king, noble, exalted, of rank, princely, titled, patrician, aristocratic, high-, well-born, of gentle blood, genteel, comme il faut, gentlemanlike, courtly, highly respectable, in high quarters, Adel sitzt im Gemuthe nicht im Gebluete, adelig und edel sind zweierlei, noblesse oblige.For further exploring for "grandee" in Webster Dictionary Online