snob

[snob]

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noun

a person who imitates, cultivates, or slavishly admires social superiors and is condescending or overbearing to others.

a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field: a musical snob.

Origin of snob

First recorded in 1775–85; orig. uncert; first used as a nickname for a cobbler or cobbler's apprentice, hence a townsman, someone of low class or lacking good breeding, commoner, hence someone who imitates persons of higher rank

Related formsan·ti·snob, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for snob

pretender, upstart, parvenu, braggart, highbrow, name-dropper

Examples from the Web for snob

Contemporary Examples of snob

You write a lot about how you were a jerk or a snob when it came to comedy or film.
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire
William O’Connor
January 6, 2015
What a snob ... Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college.
The Ultimate 2012 Quiz
Michael Tomasky
December 27, 2012
He was educated, like Fleming, at Eton, but unlike his creator, he was no snob.
Literary Bond Superior to Movie Version
Allen Barra
November 11, 2012
Amazingly, considering the subject matter, the Jack Taylor novels have a touch of snob appeal.
Why You Should Read Ken Bruen the Master of Irish Noir
Allen Barra
March 17, 2012
Watch as Jon Stewart schools him on the actual meaning of a “snob.”
‘The Artist’ Sweeps Oscars, Davy Jones Dies, J.Lo on the Alleged Nip Slip, and More Viral Videos
The Daily Beast Video
March 3, 2012

Historical Examples of snob

That counts me a snob in my mental attitude toward the Lockwoods.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
He who bullies those who are not in a position to resist may be a snob, but cannot be a gentleman.
Self-Help
Samuel Smiles
We are left with the uneasy impression that William is a snob.
Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 8, 1914
Various
People will say he was a vulgar parvenu, a sycophant, a snob—heaven knows what.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Hall Caine
You'll never be a snob, Beth, no matter how much money you have.
The Vagrant Duke
George Gibbs

British Dictionary definitions for snob

snob

noun

a person who strives to associate with those of higher social status and who behaves condescendingly to othersCompare inverted snob
(as modifier)snob appeal

a person having similar pretensions with regard to his tastes, etcan intellectual snob

Derived Formssnobbery, nounsnobbish, adjectivesnobbishly, adverbsnobbishness or snobbism, nounsnobby, adjective

Word Origin for snob

C18 (in the sense: shoemaker; hence, C19: a person who flatters those of higher station, etc): of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for snob

1781, "a shoemaker, a shoemaker's apprentice," of unknown origin. It came to be used in Cambridge University slang c.1796, often contemptuously, for "townsman, local merchant," and passed then into literary use, where by 1831 it was being used for "person of the ordinary or lower classes." Meaning "person who vulgarly apes his social superiors" is by 1843, popularized 1848 by William Thackeray's "Book of Snobs." The meaning later broadened to include those who insist on their gentility, in addition to those who merely aspire to it, and by 1911 the word had its main modern sense of "one who despises those considered inferior in rank, attainment, or taste."