hauteur
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of hauteur
1620–30; < French, equivalent to haut high ( see haughty) + -eur -or 1
Explanation
Hauteur is an obnoxious display of overbearing pride and superiority over others. Rather than showing humility and respect, a bad king might act with hauteur toward his subjects. The noun hauteur stems from the Old English word haute, meaning "high in one's own estimation." Because it often develops as a result of power over others (or perceived power), it's often associated with royalty or politically powerful figures who throughout history have become vain and arrogant because of their position: A high-powered CEO might show hauteur toward the newly hired assistant; a professional athlete's hauteur may result from the media spotlight and multi-million-dollar contracts.
Vocabulary lists containing hauteur
The Great Gatsby
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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Pride and Prejudice
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hauteur and intransigence have always been weapons in that fight.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hauteur, contempt and disgust, expressed themselves in my little darling's blue eyes.
From Man and Maid by Glyn, Elinor
Hauteur should have been her natural expression, but her eyes were dreamy and melancholy, her mouth discontented.
From Senator North by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
The former I called the Plantagenet, and ascended it through La Salle, Marquette, and Assawa Lakes to a small creek at the foot of the Hauteur des Terres.
From Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers by Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
The first day's travel was to White Earth Agency, twenty-two miles across a rolling prairie which steadily rises toward its climax in the Hauteur des Terres.
From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 26, August, 1880 of Popular Literature and Science by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
