Did you know?
César Ritz (1850-1918) earned worldwide renown for the luxurious hotels bearing his name in London and Paris. (The Ritz-Carlton hotel company is a contemporary descendant of these enterprises.) Although they were by no means the first to cater to high-end clients, Ritz’s hotels quickly earned reputations as symbols of opulence. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a writer who often focused on the fashionably wealthy, titled one of his short stories “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” and the phrase “to put on the ritz” means “to indulge in ostentatious display.” The adjective ritzy, describing either something fancy or stylish, or the haughty attitudes of the wealthy elite, first checked into the English language in 1919.
Synonyms
Examples of ritzy in a Sentence
Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 4 Mar. 2024
Ewan McGregor initially seems like an odd casting choice to play Count Alexander Rostov — a 1920s aristocrat whose mouthy ways lead to his getting forever confined by a Bolshevik court panel to the ritzy Metropol hotel.
—Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2024
The campus, which sits next to less ritzy building hosting an events company and the Hollywood Palms Inn & Suites motel, will also feature a theater, gallery, rooftop restaurant and an outdoor event space intended to become a new destination.
—Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Mar. 2024
Instead, the sophisticated traditional abode draws inspiration from ritzy locales like Italy and London and strikes a balance between classic architecture and contemporary design.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 8 Mar. 2024
End trails on the east side, stroll through the ritzy Seacliff neighborhood, and head north to the numerous trails of the Presidio, which eventually connect all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge.
—Carey Jones, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 Feb. 2024
The first buyer planned to evict all tenants and face-lift the exterior to make way for a ritzy private hotel.
—Troy Aidan Sambajon, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Feb. 2024
Hilfiger hosted his ritzy Fall-Winter 2024 fashion show at Manhattan’s Grand Central Oyster Bar, which, as its name suggests, is tucked away amid the hallowed halls of Grand Central Station.
—Nick Remsen, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024
Located in Dubai’s ritzy One Za’abeel development, the Siro One Za’abeel offers a new type of guest experience centered around fitness and recovery.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 13 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ritzy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Ritz hotels, noted for their opulence
1919, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Podcast
Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!
Dictionary Entries Near ritzy
Cite this Entry
“Ritzy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ritzy. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share