snobby
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of snobby
Explanation
Snobby people think they're better than others. A snobby club might only allow members who dress a certain way or attend a certain school, excluding everyone else. Some snobby people are wealthy and believe that those who have less are inferior, while other snobby folks are smart and well-educated, and look down on people who are uneducated. Snobby is an informal word that describes a snob, which originally meant "a shoemaker or a shoemaker's apprentice." From that meaning it evolved through "lowly person" to "lowly person imitating a social superior" and finally "person who despises those considered inferior."
Vocabulary lists containing snobby
Keep It Together, Keiko Carter
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Katt vs. Dogg
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The Great Greene Heist
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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.
“That just makes it more threatening in my mind. And I like to think of her as more vulnerable than just snobby or superior. I think it’s way more insecure.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
Cue another round of snobby harrumphing about the inclusion of non-Power 4 schools like James Madison and Tulane, as if those schools play on crabgrass fields with dirt patches and donkeys.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025
The movie was loosely inspired by Vogue and Anna Wintour’s reign, and former staffers have said the long hours and snobby, high-pressure hierarchy weren’t far off from real life.
From Salon • Aug. 17, 2025
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, who is an Edinburgh MP, described the remarks as "classist and snobby".
From BBC • Aug. 9, 2025
Andie, the main character, had two boys who liked her: her best friend, Duckie, who was kind of weird but funny, and this rich guy Blane, who hung out in a snobby clique.
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
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.
