as in pretentious
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Recent Examples of fancy-pants
Partridge was dressed in classic English fancy-pants style, while Rodrigo embraced the vintage preppiness inherent to gingham.
—
Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 2 July 2025
The surprise of Clover Hill is not that this sort of food is on offer in an outer borough—with its concentration of zillion-dollar brownstones and fancy-pants residents, Brooklyn Heights isn’t exactly salt of the earth.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 July 2024
But no—not good enough for these fancy-pants mathematicians who need their own set of characters just to feel special.
—Eli Burnstein, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2023
With crust that's beautifully singed and wondrously puffed, the not-so-basic numbers are polished with fancy-pants ingredients—from Calabrian chile, fennel and sausage to a cacio e pepe riff made with velvety cream sauce, formaggi al pepe and pecorino.
—Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 12 Mar. 2023
Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 2 July 2025
The surprise of Clover Hill is not that this sort of food is on offer in an outer borough—with its concentration of zillion-dollar brownstones and fancy-pants residents, Brooklyn Heights isn’t exactly salt of the earth.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 July 2024
But no—not good enough for these fancy-pants mathematicians who need their own set of characters just to feel special.
—Eli Burnstein, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2023
With crust that's beautifully singed and wondrously puffed, the not-so-basic numbers are polished with fancy-pants ingredients—from Calabrian chile, fennel and sausage to a cacio e pepe riff made with velvety cream sauce, formaggi al pepe and pecorino.
—Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 12 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fancy-pants
Adjective
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Even when Season Three felt meandering or pretentious, the vibe set by the music and the production design never faltered.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
26 June 2025
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My book recommendations are uncommon, but not pretentious.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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While the grandiose gestures may seem romantic and well-intentioned, love bombing is almost always followed by devaluation and criticism.—
Amaris Encinas,
USA Today,
10 July 2025
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In Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, collective or cooperative land reforms—less grandiose and more grassroots than the Soviet or Chinese variants—brought substantive and lasting social change.—
Michael Albertus,
Foreign Affairs,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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As pompous actor Garry, Nehal Joshi aces the tough task of making his character’s halting, inarticulate speech sound authentic.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 July 2025
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And more than any other animal, cats represented to her its moral antithesis: lazy, pompous, interested only in themselves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 June 2025
Adjective
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Some of the federal government’s messaging in recent months regarding falling egg prices appear at odds with its statements about inflated egg prices in the lawsuit.—
Esther Sun,
Mercury News,
10 July 2025
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While venture capital markets can support inflated valuations in the short term, companies ultimately need to deliver returns that justify these investments.—
Josipa Majic Predin,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Adjective
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One of those Illinoisans, Terry Roman, has a little gray card with purple and blue stripes tucked into his very old wallet.—
Sophie Levenson,
Chicago Tribune,
20 July 2025
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When left to bloom, their pink or purple flowers add extra flavor and visual appeal to salads or lend a pink tint and onion flavor to homemade vinegar.—
Sheryl Geerts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
20 July 2025
Adjective
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Much of its original charm still remains, from rich carpeted staircases to vintage chandeliers and ornate moldings.—
Kim Kay,
Travel + Leisure,
20 July 2025
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New York The Palace of Versailles’ stables inspired the look of this stunning scarlet space, featuring a barrel-vaulted ceiling with three ornate chandeliers, a 60-foot bar and black-and-white checkerboard flooring.—
Jennifer Kester,
Forbes.com,
16 July 2025
Adjective
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Never Enough never feels bloated or overly ambitious; in this fable, Icarus flies away.—
Allaire Nuss,
EW.com,
13 July 2025
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While Federal assistance was always intended to supplement state actions, not replace those actions, FEMA's outsized role created a bloated bureaucracy that disincentivized state investment in their own resilience.—
Peter Aitken,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 July 2025
Adjective
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She’s stilted and awkward and doesn’t really banter.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
19 July 2024
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The stilted writing and direction, sadly, leave a lot to be desired: Emotions are under-explored and the humor misfires, with a perfectly capable cast asked to deliver some truly clunky lines.—
Tomris Laffly,
Variety,
9 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fancy-pants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fancy-pants. Accessed 25 Jul. 2025.
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