nouveaux riches

noun

plural of nouveau riche
as in parvenus
one who has recently acquired wealth and social position a nouveau riche who is reportedly using his money to buy his way into Palm Beach society

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nouveaux riches
  1. upstarts
  2. arrivistes
Noun
  • Argentina, the reigning world champions and heavy favorite, needed extra time to beat the upstarts in their first World Cup, but not before Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral scored an incredible extra-time goal and ran into the crowd to celebrate.
    — Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 20 July 2026
  • Last summer, gambling executives were dismissing prediction markets as fringe upstarts that would be hampered by regulatory uncertainty.
    — Nathaniel Popper, Fortune, 19 July 2026
Definition of upstarts
Noun
  • And yet, the digital arrivistes could only gain so much traction with a broader customer base and needed a boost from tie-ins with old-school counterparts.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
  • 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
Definition of arrivistes
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

nouveau riche
nouveaux riches
nouvelle
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Nouveaux riches.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nouveaux%20riches. Accessed 25 Jul. 2026.

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