Supercilious

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Supercilious \Su`per*cil"i*ous\, a. [L. superciliosus, fr.
     supercilium an eyebrow, pride; super over, + cilium an
     eyelid; probably akin to celare to conceal. Cf. {Conceal}.]
     Lofty with pride; haughty; dictatorial; overbearing;
     arrogant; as, a supercilious officer; asupercilious air;
     supercilious behavior. -- {Su`per*cil"i*ous*ly}, adv. --


     {Su`per*cil"i*ous*ness}, n.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  supercilious
       adj 1: having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of
              those one views as unworthy; "some economists are
              disdainful of their colleagues in other social
              disciplines"; "haughty aristocrats"; "his lordly
              manners were offensive"; "walked with a prideful
              swagger"; "very sniffy about breaches of etiquette";
              "his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air";
              "shaggy supercilious camels"; "a more swaggering mood
              than usual"- W.L.Shirer [syn: {disdainful}, {haughty},
               {lordly}, {prideful}, {sniffy}, {swaggering}]
       2: expressive of contempt; "curled his lip in a supercilious
          smile"; "spoke in a sneering jeering manner"; "makes many
          a sharp comparison but never a mean or snide one" [syn: {sneering},
           {snide}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  40 Moby Thesaurus words for "supercilious":
     arrogant, cavalier, clannish, cliquish, condescending,
     contemptuous, contumelious, disdainful, dismissive, exclusive,
     haughty, high and mighty, high-and-mighty, highfalutin,
     hoity-toity, insolent, la-di-da, lofty, lordly, overbearing,
     patronizing, pompous, pretentious, scornful, sneering, sniffy,
     snippy, snobbish, snobby, snooty, snotty, snuffy, stuck-up, stuffy,
     superior, toploftical, toplofty, uppish, uppity, withering