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In India's Mogul Empire, founded in the 16th century, provincial governors carried the Urdu title of nawāb. In 1612, Captain Robert Coverte published a report of his "discovery" of "the Great Mogoll, a prince not till now knowne to our English nation." The Captain informed the English-speaking world that "An earle is called a Nawbob," thereby introducing the English version of the word. Nabob, as it thereafter came to be spelled, gained its extended sense of "a prominent person" in the 18th century, when it was applied sarcastically to British officials of the East India Company returning home after amassing great wealth in Asia. The word was perhaps most famously used by Vice President Spiro Agnew, in a 1970 speech written by William Safire, when he referred to critical members of the news media as "nattering nabobs of negativism."
Examples of nabob in a Sentence
Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 2 Feb. 2025
Back then, white scholars saw history through the eyes of society’s nabobs, kings and presidents.
—Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 2 Feb. 2025
Nattering nabobs of non-mainstream media might call it assault by beverage.
—Pat Beall, Orlando Sentinel, 14 July 2024
The Gold Coast once held the highest concentrations of American wealth, and today, the area remains an upscale part of Long Island, with many of those centuries-old homes of Gilded Age nabobs still intact.
—Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 20 Mar. 2024
Chattering nabobs of negativity have highlighted that 66 Chinese companies are being removed from indices.
—Brendan Ahern, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024
This oilman here was not a nabob like Doheny, but his L.A. oil scandal was going on at the same time.
—Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2023
On a dangerous mindset; Pence and Social Security; ‘nattering nabobs of negativism’; the octogenarian Harrison Ford; and more NR Daily is delivered right to you every afternoon.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 16 Feb. 2023
This doesn’t sound like a con artist or a relentlessly negative nabob.
—Washington Post, 22 June 2021
Cite this Entry
“Nabob.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nabob. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
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nabob
noun
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