mindmap root((贵族)) aristocracy usually refers to those persons of superior birth, breeding, and social station: plantation families constituted the ~ of the antebellum South; or to an ideally superior caste without reference to a definite group: the ~ of intellectuals. nobility refers to persons of a privileged and titled class that ranks just below royalty: the duke ranks highest in British ~. gentry refers to a class of leisured, well-bred persons who are considered gentlefolk but are without hereditary titles: a private school favored by generations of the ~. elite refers to the members of any group or class who are judged highest by social or cultural standards: acknowledged to be among the ~ few of the artistic set. society refers to that class of people who are celebrated for their active social life, conspicuous leisure, and fashionable sports and clothes: the famed lavish balls of Newport ~.