ennoblir

To ennoble — literally to grant someone a title of nobility (historical), and figuratively to dignify or elevate something morally or in stature (la souffrance peut ennoblir, un métier ennobli par la tradition). More common in its figurative, literary sense today.

• Le roi l'a ennobli pour ses services rendus. — The king ennobled him for his services rendered.
• Cette épreuve l'a ennobli aux yeux de tous. — This ordeal elevated him in everyone's eyes.
• Le travail manuel peut ennoblir autant que l'étude. — Manual labor can be just as dignifying as study.

Learners sometimes read it as purely historical (granting a title), but in modern French it's almost always used figuratively, about dignity or moral stature rather than a literal aristocratic rank.