preppy
Americannoun
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preppies
plural
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a person who is a student at or a graduate of a preparatory school.
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a person who favors or is viewed as favoring clothing style or behavior associated with traditional preparatory schools.
adjective
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preppier,
comparative
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preppiest
superlative
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of, relating to, or characteristic of preparatory schools or their students.
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of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or being a style in dress or mode of behavior of a preppy.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of preppy
Explanation
Someone who's preppy either attended an expensive, private high school and an Ivy League college — or just dresses that way. The informal preppy comes from "college preparatory school," its shortened form, "prep school," and the resulting noun prep, used to describe graduates of these elite high schools. You can substitute preppy as a noun, too: "The campus is full of preppies — maybe I'll go to art school instead." Preppy style includes dressing in polo shirts, khaki pants, and boat shoes, or looking like you just finished playing tennis or riding a horse.
Vocabulary lists containing preppy
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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:
The 86-year-old designer, whose preppy aesthetic has influenced American style for decades, featured looks that emphasized his signature colors, navy blue and white.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
But now, preppy style encompasses so, so much more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Having gone to Ault on scholarship, Lee recalls that “I always felt I was implicitly apologizing for not being sufficiently rich and preppy and privileged.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2025
As Morrison writes, that writer, “a preppy young man named Dick Cavett, came down from the studio to give the boys their tickets.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2025
I said, “I’m okay,” and we crowded onto the ride, shoving past some preppy parents who dragged their whining, disinterested brats alongside them.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
“My cliquish world consisted of ladies and gents from Manhattan’s exclusive private schools and preppies down from New England boarding schools who played bit-parts on weekends and holidays,” she wrote.
From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2022
Within the teen movie pantheon, he was long the black sheep, unwilling to play by the rules that had schoolyard jocks and trust-fund preppies ensconced at the top of the hierarchy.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2019
“It wasn’t like we were a bunch of vapid preppies, but God, we were preppy then.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2018
Light-pink-colored swim shorts have the flashy flair of Sonny Crockett from TV show “Miami Vice,” while pinkish denim harks back to preppies with their fondness for eye-searing trousers to match their Madras cocktails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2017
But then, he hadn’t gotten along with preppies or jocks either, or with the school’s administrators.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Should I have dressed preppier, like the quick-reflexed, collegiate fencing villains in the movies?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Both are sometimes remembered, sartorially speaking, for their preppier periods.
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2022
The preppier back-half of the show, representing Mr. Lauren’s Polo label, lacked the same broad appeal, though it was masterfully put together.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2018
“So you’re going as a slightly preppier version of yourself?”
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2014
She writes that oceans are preppier than lakes “because they are natural and uncontrollable.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2010
As a magazine writer he played the part of the preppiest young man in the club, and ingratiated himself as a in-on-the-joke insider—a power journalist who became a source for power journalists.
From Salon ● May 4, 2023
In its long-sleeve form, the preppiest of summer staples is a convincing alternative to dress shirts and sweaters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2016
He was at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, at the same time as John Ellis Bush, scion of America’s preppiest leading family.
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2015
What does that Scandinavian country have to do with the preppiest of American shoe styles?
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2012
It’s funny how it ends up being the straightest, preppiest, most athletic guys who go all out for Gender Bender.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
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.
