different between ignoble vs paltry

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ignoble, from Latin ign?bilis, from in- (“not”) + gn?bilis, later n?bilis (“noble”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???n??b?l/
• Rhymes: -??b?l

Adjective

ignoble (comparative ignobler, superlative ignoblest)

1. Not noble; plebeian; common.
2. Not honorable; base.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife

3. Not a true or "noble" falcon; said of certain hawks, such as the goshawk.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:ignoble.

Synonyms

• (common): common, plebeian, vulgar
• (not honorable): degenerate, mean, base, vile, low-minded, reproachful, shameful, disgraceful

Antonyms

• (common): noble
• (not honorable): noble, honorable

Derived terms

• ignobility
• ignobleness
• ignobly

Translations

Verb

ignoble (third-person singular simple present ignobles, present participle ignobling, simple past and past participle ignobled)

1. To make ignoble; to bring low.

Anagrams

• Gobelin, gobline, inglobe

French

Etymology

From Middle French ignoble, borrowed from Latin ign?bilis, from in- (“not”) + gn?bilis, later n?bilis (“noble”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.??bl/

Adjective

ignoble (plural ignobles)

1. disgusting, repulsive, horrible

Further reading

• “ignoble” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• gobelin

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) paultry, paultrie, palterey

Etymology

From Middle Low German paltrig (“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte (“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto (“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô (“scrap, rag, patch”). Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?p?lt?i/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?lt?i/, /?p??lt?i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?lt?i/, /?p?lt?i/

Adjective

paltry (comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)

1. Trashy, trivial, of little value.

   Synonyms: insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial
2. Of little monetary worth.

   Synonyms: meager, worthless, pitiful, trifling
3. Despicable

   A paltry coward.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "paltry" is often applied: sum, rate, amount, number, price, salary, wages, fellow, pay, excuse, income, gain, compensation.

Derived terms

• paltriness

Translations

Anagrams

• partly, raptly