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Synonyms

put on airs

Idioms  
  1. Assume a haughty manner, pretend to be better than one is, as in I'm sick of Claire and the way she puts on airs. Airs here means “a manner of superiority.” [c. 1700]


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.

Japan’s colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945 introduced loanwords including gao, Japanese for “face,” adapted into Korean as “put on gao,” which means to put on airs.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2025

Zaluzhny was already known as an ambitious and modern commander, but also an unpretentious man who liked to joke with his subordinates and didn't put on airs.

From BBC • Jun. 14, 2023

Mr. Silvestri, who once waited on Ms. Turner, said she did not put on airs.

From New York Times • May 25, 2023

Sometimes you get intimidated by people because of their intellect, but she never put on airs.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2022

You wouldn’t say he put on airs or pretended to be what he wasn’t, but unlike Grandpa Blakeslee, he liked seeming well-off and “modrun.”

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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