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César Ritz (1850-1918) earned worldwide renown for the luxurious hotels bearing his name in London and Paris. (The Ritz-Carlton hotel company is a contemporary descendant of these enterprises.) Although they were by no means the first to cater to high-end clients, Ritz’s hotels quickly earned reputations as symbols of opulence. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a writer who often focused on the fashionably wealthy, titled one of his short stories “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” and the phrase “to put on the ritz” means “to indulge in ostentatious display.” The adjective ritzy, describing either something fancy or stylish, or the haughty attitudes of the wealthy elite, first checked into the English language in 1919.
Examples of ritzy in a Sentence
Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 5 Aug. 2025
For nearly three decades, the Albanian native cleaned the ritzy Manhattan skyscraper that houses several corporate headquarters in one of New York’s toniest neighborhoods.
—Holly Yan, CNN Money, 1 Aug. 2025
Priced at $150 million, the triplex condo at the Rivage Residences Bal Harbour is the most expensive home ever listed in the ritzy South Florida village.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 31 July 2025
In a ritzy enclave of South Florida, Chinese migrants are coming ashore via boat, leading to an investigation into human smuggling networks.
—Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 31 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ritzy
Cite this Entry
“Ritzy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ritzy. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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