highfalutin

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See also: high falutin

English

WOTD – 15 October 2008

Alternative forms

Etymology

Possible alteration of high-fluting. Another speculation connects the term with high-flighting/-flying.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌhaɪ.fəˈlu.tɪn/, /ˈhaɪ.fəˌlu.tɪn/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Adjective

highfalutin (comparative more highfalutin, superlative most highfalutin)

  1. (US, informal) Self-important, pompous; arrogant or egotistical.
    Synonyms: bombast, hoity-toity, pretentious
    It's only a matter of time before some highfalutin developer builds a huge hotel and ruins the scenery.
    That one Cajun that moved to Austin is too highfalutin to come back to Livingston Parish. He's over there with that mean bread lady!
    His speech was very highfalutin.
    • 2015 November 1, Hendrik Hertzberg, “That G.O.P. Debate: Two Footnotes”, in The New Yorker‎:
      There’s been a spate of stories lately about how Cruz’s rhetoric is more hifalutin than everybody else’s. He uses lots of big words and dependent clauses.

Translations

Noun

highfalutin (uncountable)

  1. (archaic) Pompous speech or writing.
    • 1865, Benn Pitman, The Assassination of President Lincoln: And the Trial of the Conspirators‎, page 43:
      Don't write so much highfalutin next time.
    • 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 169:
      "We will, we will," shouted the Puddin'-owners; but the Puddin' said sourly: "This is all very well, all this high falutin'."

Derived terms

Further reading

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