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
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
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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Each burger is hand-packed with crisp lettuce, tomato, pickles and just a swipe of mustard — nothing unnecessary, nothing pretentious.—
Tiffani Jackson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
24 Oct. 2025
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Need to drop a levity bomb in the middle of a group of pretentious characters?—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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One of the great pleasures of anime is that its unabashed, rollicky genre pieces are often suffused with grand, but not grandiose, sociopolitical commentary — a heady combination that many similar pictures can’t pull off.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Oct. 2025
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The Great Park idea was hatched two-plus decades ago amid grandiose promises.—
The Editorial Board,
Oc Register,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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While The Morning Show presents the news business as glossy and glamorous (and often a little pompous), The Paper takes the opposite view with the documentary crew from The Office now focusing on a dying newspaper in Ohio.—
Emma Alpern,
Vulture,
11 Sep. 2025
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Guigal’s strategy isn’t built on pompous conservatism, but in long-term thinking.—
Paul Caputo,
Forbes.com,
22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Suarez blames too many New Yorkers moving in for the inflated real-estate prices.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
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In high-cost coastal cities, higher incomes tend to offset the inflated prices.—
Deirdre Bardolf,
FOXNews.com,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Franken-Candy Sundae – Creamy vanilla soft serve topped with Oreo cookie crumbles, purple candy syrup, and purple and green popping candy.—
Cheryl V. Jackson,
IndyStar,
31 Oct. 2025
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In a clip posted to Instagram, Nicole — who dated Travis Kelce on and off from 2017 to 2022 — rocks a purple bikini topped by a revealing dress made of sparkly silver netting.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Dancers in ornate pharaonic costumes -- crowned with golden headpieces and holding scepters -- performed to a live international orchestra, as fireworks and drones depicting ancient gods lit up the sky above.—
Ayat Al-Tawy,
ABC News,
2 Nov. 2025
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On Sunday in New York City at the Angel Ball hosted by Gabrielle’s Angel Fund, Blige styled a black lace version of Amina Muaddi’s Camelia style, which features an ornate octagonal crystal embellishment, with a dress from Tony Ward.—
Jaden Thompson,
Footwear News,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Of course Michael Proctor will never make it to the Sunshine State, at least not with that bloated kiss in the mail like all the rest of them are pocketing.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
29 Oct. 2025
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Ultimately, though, Zombie delivers something that is less like a movie and more like a bloated music video.—
Chris Snellgrove,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Drafting in English and translating often produces stilted, unnatural messages.—
Adam Mills,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
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But after the pyrotechnics between Julia and Adriana, all of these conversations seem strange and stilted.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fancy-pants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fancy-pants. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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