He was raised to have a strong sense of noblesse oblige.

Recent Examples on the Web

This job of noblesse oblige raises a host of uncomfortable ethical conundrums, but Peter, in typical fashion, squares them away by showing his self-awareness. Ryu Spaeth, The New Republic, "The Shallowness of the Self-Aware Novelist," 9 July 2020

Catholic social justice with a hint of noblesse oblige. New York Times, "‘Pelosi,’ by Molly Ball: An Excerpt," 5 May 2020

Graham had a medical degree and was living in settlement housing, where the wealthy lived alongside the poor, which appealed to his sense of noblesse oblige. Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, "The Unlikely Life of a Socialist Activist Resonates a Century Later," 4 Mar. 2020

And, unlike the goal of simply becoming fabulously wealthy — which one could also accomplish by winning the lottery or marrying a nonroyal oil magnate — princesshood came with a sense of noblesse oblige. Washington Post, "Meghan Markle just flipped the princess fantasy on its big crowned head," 10 Jan. 2020

Enhanced representations of art by women, African-Americans, Africans, Latin-Americans, and Asians can feel tentative, pitched between self-evident justice and noblesse oblige. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, "The Exuberance of MOMA’s Expansion," 14 Oct. 2019

Where others see noblesse oblige, in other words, Giridharadas spies disingenuous self-dealing. Fortune, "An Insider Takes Aim at Corporate America’s ‘Elite Charade’," 20 Aug. 2019

For some of America’s elite in the 1960s and ’70s, supporting efforts to limit population growth was partly an act of noblesse oblige. Nicholas Kulish, New York Times, "Why an Heiress Spent Her Fortune Trying to Keep Immigrants Out," 14 Aug. 2019

Taken further, these credos of noblesse oblige could be viewed as an open invitation for reverse discrimination. Sam Walker, WSJ, "The Privilege Trap: Can Rich Kids Become Good Leaders?," 6 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'noblesse oblige.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.