as in arriviste
one who has recently acquired wealth and social position
having made their money in oil decades ago, they consider these billionaire dot-commers mere upstarts
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of upstart
Still, Wall Street remains unconvinced this will be enough to prevent a loss of market share to AI-native products and upstarts.
—
Bloomberg, Mercury News, 3 June 2026
Key Background Larry Ellison cofounded Oracle in 1977 and built it from a database upstart into one of the most valuable software companies in the world.
—Alicia Park, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
The company, founded in 2021 by a breakaway faction from OpenAI, was viewed as an upstart that tailored its chatbots to the needs of businesses and developers, rather than consumers.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2026
Those upstarts include the corporate card contender Ramp, which is raising funds at a $40 billion valuation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
—Ben Weiss, Fortune, 27 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for upstart
Bloomberg, Mercury News, 3 June 2026
Key Background Larry Ellison cofounded Oracle in 1977 and built it from a database upstart into one of the most valuable software companies in the world.
—Alicia Park, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026
The company, founded in 2021 by a breakaway faction from OpenAI, was viewed as an upstart that tailored its chatbots to the needs of businesses and developers, rather than consumers.
—Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2026
Those upstarts include the corporate card contender Ramp, which is raising funds at a $40 billion valuation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
—Ben Weiss, Fortune, 27 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for upstart
Recent Examples of Synonyms for upstart
Noun
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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
Noun
-
Spurrier, who predominantly sold French vintages, wasn’t expecting anything other than a trouncing for the parvenu.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
25 May 2026
-
In 1952, backed by little more than his reputation as a war hero and a fortune staked by his parvenu father, 35-year-old John F. Kennedy swiped a Senate seat from Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, himself a wealthy combat veteran.—
Kevin Mahnken,
The New Republic,
1 Sep. 2020
Noun
-
Daddy’s little girl and favorite adventurer.—
Audrey Schmidt,
PEOPLE,
4 June 2026
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The Multi-Rack variant also comes with a stain-resistant load area floor and is designed to double as an effective tiny adventurer, DIY transporter, everyday bag carrier and all-around cargo workhorse.—
C.C. Weiss
May 19,
New Atlas,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
Vandelli thinks Stilley is nouveau riche; Stilley thinks Vandelli is a bully.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
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Emulation of upper-crust speech norms became popular among the nouveau riche.—
Valerie M. Fridland,
The Conversation,
21 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Upstart.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/upstart. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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