stuck-up

American  

[stuhk-uhp] / ˈstʌkˈʌp /

adjective

Informal.

1. snobbishly conceited.

   Synonyms:

   snooty, snobbish, arrogant, vain

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stuck-up British  

adjective

1. informal conceited, arrogant, or snobbish

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Other Word Forms

• stuck-upness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of stuck-up

First recorded in 1820–30

Explanation

If you have an exaggerated opinion of yourself, believing you're smarter, more attractive, or just generally better than everyone else, you're stuck-up. If you talk about nothing but the awards you've won, and your friends might think you're stuck-up. You can also describe a stuck-up person as arrogant, snobby, or conceited. The adjective stuck-up is informal, but it's a great way to talk about someone who brags about himself and looks down on just about everyone else. Some experts guess that stuck-up comes from the idea of "having one's nose up in the air." We do know that it first appeared in print around 1830.

Example Sentences

I could make an old hat Look more like an owl Than that horrid fowl, Stuck up here so stiff like a side of coarse leather.

From Poems Teachers Ask For Selected by readers of "Normal Instructor-Primary Plans" by Various

Stuck up our tents as it looked like rain, but we were told we would have to cross to-night.

From An Artilleryman's Diary by Jones, Jenkins Lloyd

Stuck up in a corner of the bit of ruin that had once been Castle Heffernan it was.

From Humours of Irish Life by Various

Stuck up on the bare brow, plain to be seen at 2000 yards, they were simply meant to draw our fire.

From With Rimington by Phillipps, L. March

When you see a hat Stuck up like that   You remark with some surprise, `Has he been to a shop, And bought for his top   A hat of the largest size?'

From The Magic Pudding Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff by Lindsay, Norman