snooty

American  

[snoo-tee] / ˈsnu ti /

adjective

Informal.

snootier, snootiest

1. snobbish.

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snooty British  

/ ˈsnuːtɪ /

adjective

1. aloof or supercilious

2. snobbish or exclusive

   a snooty restaurant

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Usage

What does snooty mean? Snooty means snobby. It’s typically used to describe a person who thinks they have better taste or higher standards than other people and treats them in a condescending way because of it.Snooty is always used negatively. It’s often used to describe people that exclude others, typically due to the perception that others are not good enough. Snooty isn’t only applied to people—you can call a restaurant snooty, for example, if it’s overly exclusive.A snooty person can be called a snoot, which means the same thing as snob. But the adjective snooty is much more commonly used than the noun snoot.Example: The kids in my class are so snooty—they all just stick to their own cliques and don’t try to make friends with anyone else.

Other Word Forms

• snootily adverb
• snootiness noun

Etymology

Origin of snooty

First recorded in 1915–20; snoot + -y ¹

Example Sentences

DNA is a snooty aristocrat, never stooping to engage in day-to-day tasks.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Perhaps a terrible flaw but we felt perfectly satisfied with playing to a few thousand people and we were a bit snooty about it also,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times

California had its own north/south rivalry, and Otis resented Northern Californians’ snooty perception of the “cow counties” south of the Tehachapi Mountains.

From Los Angeles Times

The city is not as snooty and pretentious as San Francisco.

From Los Angeles Times

Then in 1978 comes this movie that shows two competing fraternity chapters: Kevin Bacon’s Omega Theta Pi, representing the old snooty ways, and John Belushi’s Delta Tau Chi, showing a wild new future.

From Salon

Related Words

• arrogant
• condescending
• egotistical
• pompous
• snobbish