Noun
- The inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged.
“At first we were glad that Miss Emily would have an interest, because the ladies all said, ‘Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer.’ But there were still others, older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige– –
without calling it noblesse oblige.” (Faulkner, Ch3, paragraph3, PDF)
