blue bloods
Old money elite
Blue bloods are people of aristocratic or noble birth.
The term suggests that nobility's pale, untanned skin revealed blue veins—unlike sun-darkened commoners.
By extension, blue bloods are members of any social elite: The club was founded by Boston blue bloods.
The adjective form is blue-blooded: a blue-blooded family.
- gentlefolksPeople of high social standing
- upper classWealthiest societal stratum
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- eliteSuperior select group
- nobilityTitled ruling class
gentry · patrician · peerage · old money · noblesse · ancien régime · primogeniture · coat of arms · family crest · dukes · hereditary titles · earls · highborn · barons · heraldry · royal lineage · noble houses · titled
- eliteelite, elites, aristocrats, nobility, best
- eliteselites, plutocrats, oligarchs, aristocrats, old money
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
- social classesupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, nobles
- upper classaristocrat, nobles, baron, baroness, baronet
- British Classupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, aristocrats
blue bloodscommoners
Ordinary citizens, untitled
peasants · plebeians · the masses · common folk · lowborn
blue bloodsself-made men
Those who achieved success independently
nouveau riche · new money · parvenus · arrivistes · upstarts