noun
1A noble order or class.
‘the Venetian merchants became a great hereditary patriciate’- ‘Her book opens with a discussion of the changing understanding of the notion of nobility, and the ways in which the aspirations of the Venetian patriciate towards nobility developed during the course of the renaissance.’
- ‘As defeatism spread from meetings and rallies into the social clubs of the wealthy and renowned, the Unionist patriciate expressed dismay.’
- ‘Finally, the crisis with the Gracchus brothers revealed the weakness of the patriciate and of the constitution.’
- ‘And, again with the exception of Basle, the urban patriciates showed unexpected vigour in moving to repress the rebels.’
- ‘Governmental concerns for a well-ordered society ran parallel to those of urban patriciates.’
- ‘The dignity of office was in turn applied to the class that provided office-holders, to the point of creating an urban patriciate, a separate estate.’
- ‘As the Venetian patriciate developed new strategies for collective self-definition, so too did the doges.’
- ‘The eighteenth century witnessed a reaction to this: the aristocratic tastes, attitudes and lifestyle of this patriciate came under increasing criticism.’
- ‘No emulation of aristocratic practices is more obvious than the commissioning of portraits by the urban patriciate in Bruges.’
- 1.1The position or rank of patrician in ancient Rome.
- ‘he conferred on Ecdicius the patriciate which Anthemius had promised’
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