Synonyms

high horse

American

noun

a haughty attitude or temper; a contemptuous manner.

high horse Cultural

To be on one's “high horse” is to be disdainful or conceited: “Sally got tired of Peter's snobbery and finally told him to get off his high horse.”

high horse Idioms

see on one's high horse.

Etymology

Origin of high horse

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425

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.

I have no claim to a high horse.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

“She needs to get off her high horse and not think that I was thinking about her for the last 15 years.”

From Salon • Nov. 19, 2024

“Sometimes college students don’t understand the severity of things,” Oats said from his high horse following the game.

From Washington Post • Mar. 1, 2023

Saunders asks, and Rafe pushes her off her high horse immediately.

From New York Times • Jan. 18, 2023

“Well, you’d better make peace with her. Sweet, she gets on a high horse sometimes, but she’s a good woman—” “It was about Hank and she made me mad.”

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023