jumped-up salesman

8.4

A salesperson who acts as if they are more important after a promotion

noun

Offensive

: vendedor engreído

She couldn't stand working with that jumped-up salesman who bragged about his recent promotion.

Examples

The manager dismissed the jumped-up salesman's suggestions without a second thought.
I can't stand that jumped-up salesman from the car dealership.
Most clients avoided the jumped-up salesman because of his patronizing attitude.
That jumped-up salesman thinks he knows everything!
Most clients avoided the jumped-up salesman because of his patronizing attitude.
She couldn't stand working with that jumped-up salesman who bragged about his recent promotion.
That jumped-up salesman always talks about his new position as if it makes him better than the rest.

Antonyms

humble

91 3.4

From a low social rank or simple background

unassuming

20 5.8

A person or thing that is not proud and not showy

Surface Forms

jumped-up salesman singular

jumped-up salesmen plural

Morphology

jumped-up + salesman

A B1 learner who knows 'jumped' and 'up' can plausibly infer a sense of having 'moved up' or risen in status from 'jumped-up', so part of the meaning (recent promotion or rise) is compositionally recoverable. However the negative, evaluative sense (pretentious, self-important because of that rise) is an extended, derogatory inference not directly entailed by the literal constituents and thus not fully predictable without exposure. Because some core meaning is transparent but the critical pejorative nuance is metaphorical and language-specific, the expression is best classed as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Jumped-up salesman comes from the image of someone who has jumped up into a higher job and then acts like they are above other people. So, it is used to call someone 'arrogant' or 'self-important' after a quick promotion.