supercilious
- haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
Origin of supercilious
Synonyms for supercilious
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for supercilious
Related Words for superciliousness
nerve, pretension, gall, brass, presumption, self-love, crust, pretentiousness, airs, superiority, hauteur, priggishness, haughtiness, ostentation, pomposity, pridefulness, chutzpah, egotism, loftiness, vanityExamples from the Web for superciliousness
Historical Examples of superciliousness
She looked at him with a superciliousness not natural to her.
The Wild GeeseStanley John Weyman
Then his superciliousness would, if not vanish, at least subside.
The Young DukeBenjamin Disraeli
There was no ostentation or superciliousness about Mrs. Washington.
Stories of New JerseyFrank Richard Stockton
I acknowledged that if any superciliousness existed in Mizora while I was there, I must have had it.
Mizora: A ProphecyMary E. Bradley
What does superciliousness imply according to its etymology?
English Synonyms and AntonymsJames Champlin Fernald
supercilious
- displaying arrogant pride, scorn, or indifference
Word Origin for supercilious
Word Origin and History for superciliousness
supercilious
1520s, from Latin superciliosus "haughty, arrogant," from supercilium "haughty demeanor, pride," literally "eyebrow" (via notion of raising the eyebrow to express haughtiness), from super "above" (see super-) + second element akin to cilium "eyelid," related to celare "to cover, hide," from PIE root *kel- "to conceal" (see cell).
Since cilium is more recent than supercilium, the former can be interpreted as a back-formation to the latter .... If indeed derived from the root *kel- 'to hide', we must still assume that a noun *kilium 'eyelid' existed, since the eyelid can 'hide' the eye, whereas the eyebrow does not have such a function. Thus, supercilium may originally have meant 'what is above the cilium'. [Michiel de Vaan, "Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages," Leiden, 2008]