as in parvenus
one who has recently acquired wealth and social position
the town's old money immediately shunned these vulgar arrivistes, who may have had the cash but certainly not the class
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Recent Examples of arrivistes
Certainly there’s a long and distinguished tradition of associating Jewish arrivistes with entrepreneurialism, avarice, and clannishness.
—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for arrivistes
upstarts
Noun
-
Where does that leave the upstarts?—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 Mar. 2026
-
Competition intensified—with Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+, among others, entering the fray—and the 2010s’ Streaming Wars led to a golden age of TV as premium cable channels and streaming upstarts feverishly outspent one another for top talent.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
13 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Arrivistes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/arrivistes. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
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