preppy
Americannoun
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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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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
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.
“I viewed the brand for preppy styles geared to an older generation,” said Lavinia Gabriele, a 26-year-old New Yorker, who works in retail.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
Richman, “who dressed like a kid that everyone laughed at in high school,” influenced the band’s preppy visual template and Byrne’s clenched singing voice.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2025
The show formerly starred singer Reneé Rapp, who played the preppy mean girl with a heartwarming coming-out arc, but since Rapp’s departure, the half-hour comedy has fully leaned into the show’s absurdity.
From Salon • Jan. 19, 2025
The crowd in the dining room was a mix of older and younger, but most people were dressed on the preppy side in gingham and Ralph Lauren.
From Slate • Nov. 2, 2024
His white ex-girlfriend had been fresh-faced and preppy.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
