as in arrogant
having a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing attitude she was sniffy about anyone who didn't live up to her standards for "good manners"

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Examples of sniffy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web When confronted with the American habit of ascribing an overseas soccer team’s style of play to its most recognizable national characteristics, Europeans tend to get a bit sniffy. Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 28 June 2024 The Chinese Communist Party becomes sniffy about social media platforms collecting data on users in China. Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 23 Mar. 2024 To those who might feel a bit sniffy about the short-cuts around the hard work of making music that Mayk. David Prosser, Forbes, 9 June 2022 Both have tried, with varying success, to overcome the sniffy charges of flashiness. Carolina A. Mirandacolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2022 Admiral Godfrey is sniffy about their preposterous deception proposal’s chances of success, but Churchill gives it the go-ahead, so they are installed in a basement office and put to work. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Apr. 2022 Anchoring it all are ribbed sisal rugs that prevent the tone from becoming too French and sniffy. Guy Trebay, Town & Country, 2 Sep. 2021 The altered line sounds like the kind of sniffy pronouncement that might have issued from an earlier Leigh heroine, Scarlett O’Hara. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Mar. 2021 Posh brands are getting less sniffy about online sales, which were only 7-8% of the total in 2019. The Economist, 19 June 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sniffy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Sniffy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sniffy. Accessed 18 Sep. 2024.

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