nouveau riche

American  

[noo-voh reesh, noo-voh reesh] / ˈnu voʊ ˈriʃ, nu voʊ ˈriʃ /

noun

plural

nouveaux riches

1. a person who is newly rich.

   the ostentation of the nouveaux riches of the 1920s.

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nouveau riche British  

/ ˌnuːvəʊ ˈriːʃ, nuvo riʃ /

noun

1. (often plural) a person who has acquired wealth recently and is regarded as vulgarly ostentatious or lacking in social graces

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adjective

1. of or characteristic of the nouveaux riches

nouveau riche Cultural  

1. A pejorative term for one who has recently become rich and who spends money conspicuously. From French, meaning “new rich.”

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Etymology

Origin of nouveau riche

1805–15; < French: new rich (person)

Explanation

Someone who's nouveau-riche has recently become wealthy and enjoys spending money. Your nouveau-riche neighbor might buy six expensive cars and put lion sculptures in his front yard. The term nouveau-riche is a derogatory term meant to mock people who have a lot of money but don't have the good taste to spend it in a "classy" way. The implication is that it's more socially acceptable to inherit money and the long traditions that go with it than to suddenly become wealthy. Nouveau-riche, "new rich" in French, dates from 1813, but the idea goes back to the ancient Greek concept of neo-ploutos.

Example Sentences

Displays of it, particularly in architecture or public art, are often perceived as tacky, kitschy or, heaven forbid, nouveau riche.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

It might have been be tacky, but the republic can withstand some nouveau riche architecture on federal property.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 26, 2025

Thirty years later, India's flourishing tech-driven economy of start-ups and creators has birthed a nouveau riche that's afforded Soho House exactly another such market opportunity.

From BBC • Jul. 19, 2025

In February 2022, Ms. Peterson, an author and art collector, was surrounded by a new clientele: the crypto nouveau riche, who made a temporary home of the art market.

From New York Times • May 18, 2024

Forgetting that he’d ever been way behind the fashion curve, he was appalled, in some priggish, nouveau riche kind of way, that certain passengers appeared in the dining room in slacks and sneakers.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady