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supercilious - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective synonym : arrogant .
from The Century Dictionary.
supercilious air; supercilious behavior. Synonyms Disdainful, contemptuous, overweening, lordly, consequential. See arrogance .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
adjective
from Wiktionary , Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective Arrogantly superior ; showing contemptuous indifference ; haughty .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adjective adjective
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin superciliōsus , from supercilium , eyebrow, pride : super- , super- + cilium , lower eyelid; see kel- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin superciliōsus ("haughty"), from supercilium ("eyebrow, arrogance").
Support
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Examples
He seldom deigned to notice me; and, when he did, it was with a certain supercilious insolence of tone and manner, that convinced me he was no gentleman, though it was intended to have a contrary effect.
Agnes Grey 1931
Hence only the supercilious will be the ones who are expectantly offended.
*SUSAN LOONE's Blog* 2008
Hence only the supercilious will be the ones who are expectantly offended.
*SUSAN LOONE's Blog* 2008
I just didn't realize how moving it was and how radical it was to have that stated so clearly in the context of the kind of supercilious cultural milieu of indie rock.
Be specific: Chad Clark, co-producer of the Dismemberment Plan's "Emergency & I," on how the album might have been very different Chris Richards 2011
Mr. Obama strikes Bill Kristol as some kind of "supercilious " Marxist.
Obama's Touch of Class 2008
And regarding this case, Jackson told author Ken Auletta that the court of appeals was "supercilious " and had "made up about 90 percent of the facts on their own," among other potshots.
It's Still Alive! 2007
His whole body and manner cried out that he was a president with a war to fight who didn't want to be bothered trading verbal jabs with the kind of supercilious know-it-all he had loathed since Yale days.
TALKING THE TALK 2007
He spoke with great swiftness, the words tumbling over one another, not with eagerness, but rather with a kind of supercilious carelessness.
The Cathedral Hugh Walpole 1912
One man with exactly that tone came and said, with a kind of supercilious reverence, "Is it possible that I now flash my optics upon a prophet?"
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog J. Stapley 2010
One man with exactly that tone came and said, with a kind of supercilious reverence, "Is it possible that I now flash my optics upon a prophet?"
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog J. Stapley 2010
oroboros commented on the word supercilious
From MyFavoriteWord.com:
"I heard this word as a middle-schooler and assumed that it meant that something was supremely silly. I used it that way for years! But it means to look at someone with distain...which I'm sure many people did when I used it inappropriately! What a let-down to know that it means something so un-silly.
Kate McLean
September 30, 2007
oroboros commented on the word supercilious
"Holier than thou."
September 30, 2007
reesetee commented on the word supercilious
What I love about this word is that it derives from the Latin for "eyebrow" (or more literally, "above the eyelid"). You can almost imagine the raised eyebrow of a supercilious person. :-)
September 30, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word supercilious
I can't hear this word without wanting to put the word "twit" after it!
November 11, 2007
padawan commented on the word supercilious
supercilious: disdainful.
superciliar: above the eyebrow.
January 10, 2008
buckeyetuff commented on the word supercilious
See the second Deuce Bigalow movie. This word was used suitably.
January 22, 2008
bilby commented on the word supercilious
gr g 6 Super Jet (USA)-Silvervain(Kenvain) FOALED :28/09/02
August 14, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word supercilious
See my interesting client,
Victim of a heartless wile!
See the traitor all defiant
Wear a supercilious smile!
Sweetly smiled my client on him,
Coyly woo'd and gently won him.
-W.S. Gilbert, 'Trial by Jury'
August 16, 2008
alexz commented on the word supercilious
Spotted - nypl archives. Supercilious lizard https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-c72b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
February 1, 2016