airs
Britishplural noun
Explanation
To have airs is to be condescending or arrogant — in other words, to act like you think you're better than other people. If you put on airs, you'll find it hard to make friends. It's most common to find the word airs in the phrase "to put on airs." This basically means to act snobbish or stuck up. Someone who puts on airs is extremely annoying to everyone around him, clearly pretentious and mannered in his attitude. The phrase has been around since the 1780s, and it comes from the French air, "look, appearance, bearing, or tone."
Vocabulary lists containing airs
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.
Launched in 2010, the show airs at 6 a.m. in New York City.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
The Repair Shop airs on 8 April at 20:00 BST on BBC1.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
Photographers and video crews were stationed outside the street level studio in Rockefeller Plaza where the program airs live each weekday.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
At the bottom, it said, ‘Oh, by the way, it airs tonight.’
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
This was the Ruth I wasn’t pleased with, the one I could see every day putting on airs and pretending—the Ruth who did the slap-on-the-elbow gesture.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
