noun

• 1A noble order or class.

  ‘the Venetian merchants became a great hereditary patriciate’

  More example sentences

  • ‘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. 1.1The position or rank of patrician in ancient Rome.
     More example sentences

     • ‘he conferred on Ecdicius the patriciate which Anthemius had promised’