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Recent Examples of fancy-pants
Our city is a connect-the-dots map of marvels from hole-in-the-wall joints serving next-level noodles in Queens to fancy-pants French brasseries pouring freezer martinis from gilded carts in SoHo.
—
Andrea Strong, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 Feb. 2026
Hotel-wise, the best place to be is either Kinloch Lodge, for belt-loosening cuisine and sing-worthy service, or Flodigarry Hotel, an off-compass outpost with a fancy-pants design bar and suites that wouldn’t look out of place in the Maldives.
—Mike MacEacheran, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2025
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
Andrea Strong, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 Feb. 2026
Hotel-wise, the best place to be is either Kinloch Lodge, for belt-loosening cuisine and sing-worthy service, or Flodigarry Hotel, an off-compass outpost with a fancy-pants design bar and suites that wouldn’t look out of place in the Maldives.
—Mike MacEacheran, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fancy-pants
Adjective
-
The service Finessed but friendly, high touch but never pretentious.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Dim lights, a chic elegant interior, a chatty and trendy crowd, a menu that’s sophisticated but not too pretentious, and a welcoming bar (plus a little je ne sais quoi) are to be expected.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
16 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Consider setting aside grandiose ambitions for the moment and taking a break to do something active with your hands.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The grandiose space’s massive stage and high-caliber lighting rigs promise extravagant parties and ceremonies that will light up the city’s social calendar.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
And the less said of the poorly mixed, pompous Machina, the better.—
Kory Grow,
Rolling Stone,
3 Mar. 2026
-
The pompous clergyman enters the life of the Bennet family, his distant cousins, with the assumption that, given his respectable position and benefactor, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, one of those daughters would be happy to marry him.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Trekking guides and their businesses get a boost from inflated invoices, the outlet suggested.—
Alex Nitzberg,
FOXNews.com,
2 Apr. 2026
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However, California’s petroleum market watchdog is warning that some of the inflated price may be due to price gouging, my colleague Blanca Begert reports.—
Noah Haggerty,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Hulu set the mood for the evening when two dozen young women, dressed in their Gilead wife-training school’s purple uniforms, walked in solemn unison down the carpet, each carrying a small pie and boarding a bus with curtains covering the windows.—
Alex Cramer,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Apr. 2026
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Satellite imagery turned the abstract threat into visceral geography — terrifying technicolor maps showed a deep purple bruise spreading over the South Pole.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
One of the museum’s most celebrated exhibits is the priceless Trà Kiệu Pedestal, a huge, ornate altar featuring symbolic images such as Apsara dancers.—
Tamara Hinson,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Mar. 2026
-
The ornate cornice on the top of the building also collapsed.—
Julian Roberts-Grmela,
New York Daily News,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
And even those veterans could be traded in this rebuilding climate, where the Dolphins are seemingly purging bloated salaries, and traded away players who have value — such as receiver Jaylen Waddle and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick - for draft picks.—
Omar Kelly,
Miami Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
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Last year, the female in the tank began to look a little bloated.—
Ari Daniel,
NPR,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Unlike the stilted formality that can plague luxury properties, encounters feel genuine.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Interviewing public figures can be a very stilted experience.—
Marc Weingarten,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fancy-pants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fancy-pants. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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