as in pretentious
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Recent Examples of fancy-pants
The surprise of Clover Hill is not that this sort of food is on offer in an outer borough—with its concentration of zillion-dollar brownstones and fancy-pants residents, Brooklyn Heights isn’t exactly salt of the earth.
—
Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 July 2024
But no—not good enough for these fancy-pants mathematicians who need their own set of characters just to feel special.
—Eli Burnstein, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2023
With crust that's beautifully singed and wondrously puffed, the not-so-basic numbers are polished with fancy-pants ingredients—from Calabrian chile, fennel and sausage to a cacio e pepe riff made with velvety cream sauce, formaggi al pepe and pecorino.
—Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 12 Mar. 2023
Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 July 2024
But no—not good enough for these fancy-pants mathematicians who need their own set of characters just to feel special.
—Eli Burnstein, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2023
With crust that's beautifully singed and wondrously puffed, the not-so-basic numbers are polished with fancy-pants ingredients—from Calabrian chile, fennel and sausage to a cacio e pepe riff made with velvety cream sauce, formaggi al pepe and pecorino.
—Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 12 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fancy-pants
Adjective
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Wine doesn’t have to be pretentious or complicated.—
Liz Thach,
Forbes.com,
7 May 2025
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Trust the French to come up with the most pretentious word in the dictionary.—
Dwight Garner,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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In a clear sign of his dwindling utility, his next move at DOGE, far less grandiose than his initial one, will be to modernize the federal government’s computers.—
S.E. Cupp,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2025
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An array of notables—Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, Laura Harrier, Andie MacDowell, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Kathy Hilton, Claire Danes, and more—artfully intermingled in the museum's grandiose halls.—
Gaby Keiderling,
Vogue,
21 May 2025
Adjective
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The film will follow a pompous food critic (Roth) and the earnest son-of-a-chef (Fernández) who must outcook, outrun, and outwit a ruthless queen-pin (Higareda Howes) in order to save the son’s family restaurant – and themselves.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
7 May 2025
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Jain didn’t barge onto the scene with the pompous bravado as many others do.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2025
Adjective
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Netanyahu insists this is necessary to prevent Hamas from looting the aid entering the strip or selling it to people in Gaza at a higher inflated price.—
Helena Skinner,
ABC News,
22 May 2025
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Overly inflated ovations, some with runtimes comparable to a short film, used to be rare on the Croisette.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025
Adjective
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Placing your plant in direct sunlight can cause the plant’s leaves to burn or turn a reddish purple color.—
Sheryl Geerts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
21 May 2025
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The Emmy Award-winning actress styled a floral midi dress in shades of purple, pink and light blue.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
21 May 2025
Adjective
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On March 25, 2024, Homeland Security agents used an armored vehicle to storm the ornate front gate at the rap mogul's estate on uber-exclusive Star Island while executing a search warrant on the property, according to testimony from Homeland Security Special Agent Gerard Gannon, who led the raid.—
Janelle Griffith,
People.com,
21 May 2025
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The Gia Borghini campaign star styled one of the red carpet’s most ornate looks in 2023, wearing a tulle trompe-l’oeil gown from Viktor & Rolf’s spring 2023 collection.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
20 May 2025
Adjective
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The city of San Diego needs to trim the fat off its bloated bureaucracy.—
U T Readers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 May 2025
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In previous postseasons — many of which ended with disappointing early eliminations — the Dodgers would use one wide-body plane to shuttle players, coaches, executives, staff, broadcasters and other members of their bloated playoff traveling party from city to city.—
Jack Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
23 May 2025
Adjective
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But just down the 5 Freeway in Anaheim, the home of Disney, the hottest ticket in baseball this weekend belongs to a stilted pitcher, juggling infielders and a yellow-suited, top hat-wearing carnival barker.—
Anthony De Leon,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2025
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The awkward commercial has recently begun to recirculate around the internet, resulting in pairs of TikTokers recreating the visual in endearing clips gently poking at the stilted chemistry of the original.—
Andrew Unterberger,
Billboard,
29 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fancy-pants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fancy-pants. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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