- a person of noble or high rank; aristocrat.
- a person of very good background, education, and refinement.
- a member of the original senatorial aristocracy in ancient Rome.
- (under the later Roman and Byzantine empires) a title or dignity conferred by the emperor.
- a member of a hereditary ruling class in certain medieval German, Swiss, and Italian free cities.
- of high social rank or noble family; aristocratic.
- befitting or characteristic of persons of very good background, education, and refinement: patrician tastes.
- of or belonging to the patrician families of ancient Rome.
- a member of the hereditary aristocracy of ancient Rome. In the early republic the patricians held almost all the higher offices
- a high nonhereditary title awarded by Constantine and his eastern Roman successors for services to the empire
- (in medieval Europe)
- a title borne by numerous princes including several emperors from the 8th to the 12th centuries
- a member of the upper class in numerous Italian republics and German free cities
- an aristocrat
- a person of refined conduct, tastes, etc
- (esp in ancient Rome) of, relating to, or composed of patricians
- aristocratic
- oligarchic and often antidemocratic or nonpopular
