hoity-toity
playWhat It Means
Hoity-toity means "pretentious, fancy, or pompous."
// The guidance counselor emphasized that students do not need to go to a hoity-toity college to achieve success.
Examples
"[Daniel Heider] says his post-high-school years were difficult. … 'I felt like I was at a disadvantage because everybody in DC is interning with a great congressman or is going to law school or is going to med school, and everybody's super hoity-toity and super important….'" — The Washingtonian, April 2021
Did You Know?
Hoity-toity is believed to have been created as a rhyme based on the dialectal English word hoit, meaning "to play the fool." Hoity-toity can mean "foolish" (e.g., "… as though it were very hoity-toity of me not to know that royal personage." — W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge), but it is most often used to mean "pretentious."
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Quiz
Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective meaning "displaying wealth, knowledge, etc., in a way that is meant to attract attention, admiration, or envy": o _t _ n _ _ t _ _ _ s.
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