parvenus

noun

plural of parvenu
as in arrivistes
one who has recently acquired wealth and social position the kind of trophy house that a parvenu buys to prove to people, and to himself, that he has indeed arrived

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for parvenus
  1. arrivistes
  2. 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
Noun
  • One thing many of these digital upstarts lack, of course, is a regular roost on broadcast TV.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 13 July 2026
  • Pennington is also using her firm’s resources to turn some of the AI upstarts from rivals into allies.
    — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 10 July 2026
Definition of upstarts
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

parvenu
parvenus
parvis
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Cite this Entry

“Parvenus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parvenus. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on parvenus

Nglish: Translation of parvenus for Spanish Speakers

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