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peerage

peerage

3 8.9
A group of people with noble titles in the United Kingdom
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪrɪdʒ/
  • UK
translation icon : nobleza
  • Forty-nine years later, he was raised to the peerage by Margaret Thatcher.
  • hereditary peerage
  • members of the peerage
  • life peerage

And and he eventually renounced his his peerage as soon as it became possible, essentially.

Examples

  • Remarkably, in Britain, there is a very famous Labour peer who went to court to remove his peerage so that he could serve in the House of Commons.

    Blog text (18)
  • In that year, he became a Lord of Session as Lord Colonsay and was raised to the peerage as Baron Colonsay in 1867.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Give him a life peerage.

  • Did you know my family can trace its peerage back further than any other family in the kingdom?

  • Or marry an heiress and buy a peerage for yourself!

  • Right below the peerage was the gentry.

    Blog text (2)
  • But any gentleman with an estate and 30,000 a year should have a peerage.

  • In my opinion, you would be wise to fix upon him your chief reliance for the advancement of your claim to the peerage which you propose to get.

  • Lord Beaverbrook, as he was known after receiving his peerage at the end of 1916, was so successful in this publicity blitz that the British made him the first Minister of Information.

    Academic text (2005)
  • My uncle was granted a peerage for his extensive contributions to the arts in the kingdom.

Synonyms

aristocracy
vspeerage
24 7.2

A small group of rich, powerful families who inherit titles and wealth

is the official collective of titled members in a kingdom
nobility
vspeerage
7 5.9

Being born into a family with high social rank

is the specific organized group of titled people within a kingdom
second estate
vspeerage
  • Formal
9.9

A social class of nobles below the clergy in old France and Britain

is the formal collective of titled members in a kingdom

How Prestigious

lordship
6 9.4
peerage
  • UK
3 8.9
lairdship
  • UK
9.9
landowner
42 2.5
commoner
31 4.2

Surface Forms

peerage singular
peerages plural

Morphology

peerage = peer (semi-transparent) = peer + age

The word is transparently built from 'peer' plus the collective noun suffix '-age', but the specialized institutional meaning is somewhat lexicalized.

Etymology

Peerage comes from peer, which means 'equal' and shares the same root as the everyday word pair, meaning two equal things. So peerage is the group or rank of people who are 'equals' in rank, like the country's nobles.