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hoity

hoity

5 9.9
Someone who acts proud and shows they feel better than others
  • adjective
  • /ˈhɔɪti/
translation icon : pretencioso
  • They're going to have this big fundraiser party-thing on Friday and all the young, hoity-toity couples are going to come.
  • hoity-toity Westminster

In general, one should avoid reaching for a hoity toity word to replace a humbler synonym.

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Examples

  • Hoity-toity belongs to an age gone by.

    Blog text (30)
  • "Honey, I don't know what to say to your hoity-toity friends."

    Fiction book (2001)
  • A little hoity-toity for you?

  • I know, I know, we sound so hoity-toity.

    Blog text (23)
  • And the ones that did were kind of, you know, the hoity toity branches, right?

  • The hoity-toity art crowd had begun to bid up the prices on his work in a slow-boiling round of speculation.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • They have a reputation of being kind of hoity toity elitist.

  • We think of it as being this, you know, ski resort town that's very hoity toity and movie stars, etcetera.

  • We lived in a hoity-toity neighborhood in Ottawa for a couple of years, and stroller and baby-gear snobbery is everywhere.

    Blog text (1)
  • I find her attitude quite hoity as if she's better than everyone else.

Synonyms

pompous
vshoity
57 5.8

Acting more important and formal than necessary

is snobbish too but less tied to formal pretension
high-and-mighty
vshoity
  • Offensive
20 8.2

Acting as if you are better than other people

is the same superiority but often less overtly insulting
haughty
vshoity
14 8.1

Acting proud and looking down on other people

is similar but with a more casual proud tone
prideful
vshoity
8 6.1

Feeling or acting as if you are better than other people

is similar but focuses more on social snobbery than feeling proud
hoity-toity
vshoity
  • Informal
5 9.5

Being too proud and acting as if you are better than other people

is the same in meaning but in a shorter, clipped form
holier-than-thou
vshoity
  • Offensive
5 8.7

Acting as if morally better than other people

is snobbish in social status rather than moral judgement
self-aggrandizing
vshoity
  • Formal
4 8.6

Claiming to be more important or successful than you are

is similar but is more about attitude than self-promotion
swaggering
vshoity
2 7.0

To act very confident and proud to get attention

is snobbish in attitude rather than primarily showy behaviour
hubristic
vshoity
  • Formal
1 8.4

Being too proud and too sure of yourself so you ignore advice and make bad decisions

is snobbish mainly in social behaviour rather than general arrogance
lordly
vshoity
1 8.0

Acting very proud and treating others as unimportant

is similar but may be less openly disdainful
dicty
vshoity
  • Offensive
9.9

Acting like you are better than other people

is the same attitude but expressed in neutral language
highfaluting
vshoity
  • Informal
9.9

Showing off and acting more important than others

is snobbish too but not limited to language or style
8.2

Acting more confident and important than you really are

is similar but focuses more on social snobbery than overconfidence

Antonyms

222 2.8

Not proud and not thinking you are better than others

81 2.7

Not thinking you are better than others and not boasting

How Snobbish

arrogant
260 4.5
pretentious
  • Offensive
74 7.3
hoity
5 9.9
snobbish
  • Offensive
7 5.3
snooty
16 7.4

Surface Forms

hoity positive

Etymology

The word hoity comes from the playful phrase hoity-toity, a repeating sound people used to make fun of showy behavior. That's why hoity means 'proud' or 'snobbish'.