tall poppy

American  

[tawl pop-ee] / ˈtɔl ˈpɒp i /

noun

Chiefly Australian, New Zealand Informal

1. a person of great success, talent, or status.

   They are the best and the brightest, our very own tall poppies.

---

tall poppy British  

noun

1. informal a person who has a high salary or is otherwise prominent

---

Etymology

Origin of tall poppy

First recorded in 1980–85; from an anecdote about Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus, 7th century b.c., related in Herodotus

Example Sentences

“It gives me tall poppy syndrome a bit,” Madix says.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 29, 2024

Something very Australian about the band was that they were constantly self-effacing — perhaps trying to pre-empt the tall poppy syndrome that comes with success?

From New York Times • Jun. 21, 2017

"There's this thing called tall poppy syndrome," sighs Xayalith.

From BBC • Sep. 20, 2013

After dismissing suggestions that Rooney was unfit, overweight and unprofessional as "rubbish", Ferguson suggested that the 27-year-old is a victim of tall poppy syndrome.

From The Guardian • Mar. 9, 2013

His presence brightened up society as a tall poppy brightens up all a sombre potato-plot, and his conversation brought strange lands and extraordinary events within one remove—a single pair of eyes and ears—of everybody's experience.

From Strangers at Lisconnel by Barlow, Jane