arrogant

adjective

ar·​ro·​gant ˈer-ə-gənt 

ˈa-rə-

1

: exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance as shown especially by excessively confident or rudely dismissive behavior

an arrogant jerk

Arrogant leaders often harm workplace relationships due to their inability to value others' opinions or contributions.

—Joseph Folkman

2

: showing an offensive attitude of superiority : coming from or characterized by arrogance

her arrogant reply

arrogant behavior

… an arrogant disregard for ordinary working class people …

—Paul Kavanagh

arrogantly adverb

Synonyms of arrogant

• superior
• cocky
• supercilious
• pompous
• haughty
• bumptious
• high-and-mighty
• pretentious
• important
• uppity
• smug
• presumptuous
• assumptive
• high-handed
• sniffy
• imperious
• uppish
• huffy
• chesty
• authoritarian

Choose the Right Synonym for arrogant

proud, arrogant, haughty, lordly, insolent, overbearing, supercilious, disdainful mean showing scorn for inferiors.

proud may suggest an assumed superiority or loftiness.

too proud to take charity

arrogant implies a claiming for oneself of more consideration or importance than is warranted.

a conceited and arrogant executive

haughty suggests a consciousness of superior birth or position.

a haughty aristocrat

lordly implies pomposity or an arrogant display of power.

a lordly condescension

insolent implies contemptuous haughtiness.

ignored by an insolent waiter

overbearing suggests a tyrannical manner or an intolerable insolence.

an overbearing supervisor

supercilious implies a cool, patronizing haughtiness.

an aloof and supercilious manner

disdainful suggests a more active and openly scornful superciliousness.

disdainful of their social inferiors

Examples of arrogant in a Sentence

Tim Blixseth, the founder of the Yellowstone Club and other gated hideaways, tells Frank: "I don't like most rich people. They can be arrogant." This from a man who owns two Shih Tzus named Learjet and G2. —Alex Beam, New York Times Book Review, 10 June 2007

Arrogant execs are not the only targets of investors' ire.  … There's no telling how much money analysts such as Meeker cost investors with their interminable buy recommendations on Internet stocks that eventually went bust. —Marcia Vickers et al., Business Week, 25 Feb. 2002

Despite her social and business status in Washington, Graham remained unassuming and down to earth. Her quiet but steady courage affirmed women such as Geneva Overhosler, a former editor and Post ombudsman, by showing a woman could be powerful without being arrogant. —Mark Fitzgerald et al., Editor & Publisher, 23 July 2001

Shakespeare must have known that while his audiences loved to see villains punished and arrogant young men humbled, they did not want to fidget and squirm through mea culpas before the final scene. —Elaine Showalter, Civilization, April/May 1999

She's first in her class, but she's not arrogant about it.

the arrogant young lawyer elbowed his way to the head of the line of customers, declaring that he was too busy to wait like everybody else

Recent Examples on the Web

El-Sayed didn’t win himself any favors with an arrogant acceptance speech delivered without a shred of grace. — Kaitlyn Buss, Boston Herald, 7 Nov. 2026

His short, curt answers, or nonanswers are comedy for some, arrogant or insulting to others, especially when fans want an explanation for one of his decisions. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 5 Nov. 2026

Using an acronym meant for minor zoning squabbles against resistance to a massive, 80 mph express train slicing through dense residential blocks is an arrogant posture that completely obscures the true nature of this unconscionable project. — Chicago Tribune, 2 Nov. 2026

Steve Buscemi as Harry’s regular fence; Tatiana Maslany as his estranged daughter; and Will Price as the arrogant, heat-packing scion of a Manhattan crime family also star. — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English arrogant, arragaunt, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Latin arrogant-, arrogans "insolent, overbearing, presumptuous," from present participle of arrogāre "to lay claim to, claim to possess, be conceited" — more at arrogate

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

arrogant

adjective

ar·​ro·​gant ˈar-ə-gənt 

1

: overly proud of oneself or one's own opinions

2

: marked by arrogance

arrogant remarks

arrogantly adverb