haughtiness
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of haughtiness
Explanation
If you are shy and have a hard time talking to others, people might wrongly interpret your quietness as haughtiness. Haughtiness is thinking a lot of yourself and not much of others. The word haughtiness originally comes from the Old French adjective haut meaning "high" and later developed to mean having a high estimation of yourself. When you think of the word, imagine a Queen riding by on a horse, chin upturned, not paying any mind to her subjects below. Her Highness might as well be called Her Haughtiness up there.
Vocabulary lists containing haughtiness
"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou
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The Bluest Eye
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The Whipping Boy
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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.
He began as a William Morris socialist but quickly became suspicious of any sweeping social panacea, to the point of intellectual haughtiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025
Nick went to Princeton and graduated with all of the Ivy League haughtiness, if not the GPA or success, associated with such a diploma.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025
However, Bonne Maman doesn't come with the haughtiness that is sometimes associated with French fine dining; it's literally marketed as the kind of food that would be made by a grandmother in a French farmhouse.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2023
Still, during the debate Macron failed to dispel an image of haughtiness that has taken root during his presidency.
From Reuters ● Apr. 21, 2022
Every trace of pride and haughtiness was wiped from her face.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
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.
