as in aristocratic
being or characteristic of a person who has an offensive air of superiority and tends to ignore or disdain anyone regarded as inferior
the complacent, elitist attitude of the members at that suburban country club
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in snob
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of elitist
Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner, 8 Dec. 2025
An emerging set of critics worried that complex, experimental culture was inherently elitist, deployed by the educated to make everyone else feel inferior.
—W. David Marx, The Atlantic, 25 Nov. 2025
Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 20 July 2025
That isn’t a problem, though, because true Mario Kart elitists understand that the first game in the series, Super Mario Kart, remains Nintendo’s pinnacle.
—Luke Winkie, Vulture, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for elitist
Adjective
Ellison and Weiss are trying to save CBS News from the mess left by Chung and her successors where virtually no one trusts or believes the elitist press corps.
—Paul Bedard, The Washington Examiner, 8 Dec. 2025
An emerging set of critics worried that complex, experimental culture was inherently elitist, deployed by the educated to make everyone else feel inferior.
—W. David Marx, The Atlantic, 25 Nov. 2025
Noun
He’s known for brash takes on politics and appears to relish taking down moralists and elitists.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 20 July 2025
That isn’t a problem, though, because true Mario Kart elitists understand that the first game in the series, Super Mario Kart, remains Nintendo’s pinnacle.
—Luke Winkie, Vulture, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for elitist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elitist
Adjective
-
Martha had no interest in Franco’s aristocratic, fascist Nationalists.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Feb. 2026
-
The American groups always had very aristocratic, wonderful names.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Terroir doesn’t just belong to wine snobs, because apparently Ethiopia owns it.—
John Noakes,
Hartford Courant,
31 Jan. 2026
-
O’Hara relished playing deluded snobs like this wealthy Manhattanite with artistic ambitions from director Tim Burton’s horror comedy about two dead owners of a country house who want to drive out its new buyers.—
Julie Hinds,
Freep.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Maekar refuses, earning a cutting rebuttal from Dunk about the royal upbringing that turned Daeron (Henry Ashton) into a drunken coward and Aerion into an arrogant and cruel madman.—
Megan McCluskey,
Time,
23 Feb. 2026
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And ironically, the most arrogant ones are the worst ones.—
Outside Online,
Outside Online,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Set in 1969 Palm Beach, the Apple TV series follows Kristen Wiig’s Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, a spry social climber eager to infiltrate high society.—
Savannah Walsh,
Vanity Fair,
7 Jan. 2026
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In classic Brooksian fashion, this simple succession plan becomes complicated by a potential scandal involving her social climber husband (Jack Lowden), the sudden return of her womanizing father (Woody Harrelson), and, well, Ella McCay’s own stubbornly idealistic personality.—
Vikram Murthi,
IndieWire,
10 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
It’s been broadly debated whether the novel actually is a love story between the snobbish Cathy and the glowering Heathcliff.—
Emily Zemler,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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These page-turning stories will put characters like Pride and Prejudice’s snobbish Caroline Bingley to the modern descendant of Sense and Sensibility’s Eliza Williams at center stage in elevated fan fiction for Janeites.—
Lizz Schumer,
PEOPLE,
16 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Elitist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elitist. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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