snooty

comparative snootier · superlative snootiest

1. informalHaughty, pompous, snobbish; inclined to turn up one's nose.

   Sir Sydney was an arrogant, snooty, bigoted prig, so it was with some satisfaction that I wrote out his parking ticket.

   3 more examples

   I didn't like the way you looked at May Arnold, or the snooty way you talked.

   1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XX, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section I, page 252

   Look, I know it's tough for you at school right now, but you're awesome. And anybody that gets to know you loves you, even snooty assholes. I should probably be worried about some fancy rich dude stealing you away from me.

   2018, Robia Rashid, “Penguin Cam and Chill” (13:34 from the start), in Ryan Case, director, Atypical, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Evan (Graham Rogers), via Netflix

   ever since she landed the National gig she's got very snooty about struggling theatre mates, as if she alone has discovered the secret to being successful

   2019, Bernardine Evaristo, “Chapter 1 [Yazz]”, in Girl, Woman, Other, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 43

   Synonyms: airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, turgescent · Antonyms: abased, demure, diffident, humble, humble-hearted, low, lowly, meek

2. broadlyinformalOf an event, a thing, etc.: elite, exclusive.

   Her parties were snooty affairs; custom-designed cocktail dresses that cost more than a decent luxury car were de rigueur.

   2 more examples

   The Mercury for 1959 firmly establishes itself as Ford Motor's flashy centerpiece in the middle-price field. […] It's snootier than the Edsel—and snootier than it was, itself, in 1958.

   1958 December, Devon Francis, “What’s New with Edsel, Mercury, Lincoln”, in Howard Allaway, editor, The Popular Science Monthly, volume 173, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 78, column 1

   I grew up a privileged princess in Nob Hill, the snootiest neighborhood in San Francisco. My father's family had so much money they didn't know what to do with it.

   2017, Janice Sims, One Fine Day (An Arabesque Novel), New York, N.Y.: Kimani Press, page 128

3. broadlyinformaluncommonEasily angered or irritated; irritable, short-tempered.

plural snooties

1. informaluncommonSynonym of snoot (“an elitist or snobbish person”).

   Because you never hung around with the city snooties like I did, scooping up the council gossip.

   2005 February, Tara K. Harper, chapter XVIII, in Wolf in Night (Tales of the Wolves; 7), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 193

   2 more examples

   Well there was always cliques as far as that goes. You had your snooties and dooties, and people that were down to earth, and it's mixed.

   1993, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Madeline D. Davis, quoting D. J., “‘Maybe ’cause Things Were Harder … You Had to Be More Friendly’: Race and Class in the Lesbian Community of the 1950s”, in Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community, New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 113

   I don't care a whole lot for the snooty people. […] Yup, the snooties are a pain in the—uh—rear end—but at least you know where they're coming from. The phonies are the actors. They play whatever role meets their own selfish needs.

   2013, Stan Poel, chapter 3, in Of Souls and Patriots, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 34

   Synonyms: snoot

1. A surname.