posh
1 Americanadjective
-
posher,
comparative
-
poshest
superlative
interjection
adjective
-
smart, elegant, or fashionable; exclusive
posh clothes
-
upper-class or genteel
adverb
Usage
What else does posh mean? The adjective posh means that something or someone is rich, fancy, or otherwise smells of money.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of posh1
1915–20; of obscure origin; compare posh a dandy (recorded as British slang in 1890); the popular notion that the word is an acronym from port out(ward) , starboard home, said to be the preferred accommodation on ships traveling between England and India, is without foundation
Origin of posh2
First recorded in 1920–25
Explanation
Things that are posh are swanky, fancy, and high-class. Posh things usually cost a lot of money, too. If something is dirty, cheap, and shoddy, it will never be accused of being posh. Posh things are elegant and expensive. A posh apartment is gorgeous and classy. A posh restaurant has fancy food and you probably have to dress up to go there. Posh places are luxurious and fancy-schmancy. So it's no surprise that rich people tend to like things and places that are posh.
Vocabulary lists containing posh
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Other Words for Home
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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.
See Examples For:
But when you’re shelling out thousands for a posh pod, those things matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Davies also mentioned a school in Birkenhead, considered "posh" in the area, which charges £52 for a school rugby top alone.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
"They said I'm self-entitled, I'm a posh girl who is being a snob."
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
There are posh parties, through which some of the young characters pass, though no one is doing cocaine or getting murdered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
The first thing he noticed when he arrived in Lagos was Susan’s sparkle, her posh prettiness, the way she focused entirely on him, touched his arm as she laughed.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
These days, the 35-year-old’s gigs are at posher places such as London’s Royal Opera House and the Salzburg Festival.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
"Here, Comer speaks in an affectedly sanded-down version of her own Scouse accent, like Tessa has deliberately smoothed out her vowels in the name of blending in with her posher peers."
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2022
House of X — with its bespoke cocktails, plethora of velvet and location beneath the Public Hotel — is decidedly posher than its predecessor.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
Shamed at a news conference, he promises to send kids from the closed, poor schools to posher schools, including his alma mater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2020
If you just heard her voice next to Mum's you'd say Mum's posher.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
To say that Beacon Hill is the poshest part of Boston is not entirely true.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 2, 2023
Nichols’ covenants in Sunset Hill and Mission Hills, two of his poshest neighborhoods, were said by his company to have been copied in more than 50 cities.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2023
Faulty lifts, flooding and intolerable noises are just some of the woes that the billionaire residents of one of New York's poshest buildings say they face daily.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2021
A nature-inspired playground overlooks a sandy beach with the poshest park restrooms I’ve ever seen.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 26, 2021
Kingfisher Meadows's the poshest estate in Black Swan Green, most kids reckon.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
