supercilious

adjective

su·​per·​cil·​ious ˌsü-pər-ˈsi-lē-əs 

-ˈsil-yəs

: coolly and patronizingly haughty

reacted to their breach of etiquette with a supercilious smile

superciliously adverb

superciliousness noun

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What is the origin of supercilious?

Arrogant and disdainful types tend to raise an eyebrow at anything they consider beneath them. The original supercilious crowd must have shown that raised-eyebrow look often, because the adjective supercilious derives from "supercilium," Latin for eyebrow. (We plucked our adjective and its meaning from the Latin adjective superciliosus.) "Supercilious" has been used to describe the censoriously overbearing since the late 1600s, but there was a time in the 1700s when it was also used as a synonym of another "supercilium" descendent, "superciliary" ("of, relating to, or adjoining the eyebrow"). Although the eyebrow sense of "supercilious" is now obsolete, it does help explain what ornithologist John Latham meant in 1782 when he described a "Supercilious K[ingfisher]" with a narrow orange stripe over its eyes.

Synonyms

• arrogant
• assumptive
• bumptious
• cavalier
• chesty
• haughty
• high-and-mighty
• high-handed
• high-hat
• highfalutin
• hifalutin
• huffish
• huffy
• imperious
• important
• lofty
• lordly
• masterful
• overweening
• peremptory
• pompous
• presuming
• presumptuous
• pretentious
• self-asserting
• self-assertive
• sniffy
• stiff-necked
• superior
• toplofty
• toploftical
• uppish
• uppity

Choose the Right Synonym for supercilious

proud, arrogant, haughty, lordly, insolent, overbearing, supercilious, disdainful mean showing scorn for inferiors.

proud may suggest an assumed superiority or loftiness.

too proud to take charity

arrogant implies a claiming for oneself of more consideration or importance than is warranted.

a conceited and arrogant executive

haughty suggests a consciousness of superior birth or position.

a haughty aristocrat

lordly implies pomposity or an arrogant display of power.

a lordly condescension

insolent implies contemptuous haughtiness.

ignored by an insolent waiter

overbearing suggests a tyrannical manner or an intolerable insolence.

an overbearing supervisor

supercilious implies a cool, patronizing haughtiness.

an aloof and supercilious manner

disdainful suggests a more active and openly scornful superciliousness.

disdainful of their social inferiors

Examples of supercilious in a Sentence

While Americans did congregate together at baseball games, … amusement parks, dance halls and arcades, tensions still roiled. The middle class may not have been as supercilious as the elites it replaced, but middle-class reformers were every bit as strident as those elites in condemning … working-class entertainments, and for the same reason: These entertainments constituted a challenge to the class's social control. —Neal Gabler, Life: The Movie, 1998

Cross' popular academic sleuth Kate Fansler returns, this time as a guest professor at the down-at-the-heels Schuyler Law School, where she has been asked to teach a course on literature and the law. Ardent feminist Kate soon finds that not only is Schuyler a bastion of intolerant, supercilious white males, but worse, any attempt by women or minorities to be heard is quickly quashed by the old-boy network. —Emily Melton, Booklist, 15 Dec. 1994

Jorgeson had a sharp tongue and was so supercilious in his remarks that I didn't know quite how seriously I should take this talk, but I enjoyed his humor and I did believe he had the sensibilities of an artist. —Thom Jones, New Yorker, 2 Dec. 1991

the supercilious art dealer rolled her eyes when we asked if she had anything for under $1,000

Recent Examples on the Web

Though emerging out of segregation, Black Greek-letter organizations, too, had supercilious standards for their members and rules about who could join. —Jazmine Hughes, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024

The former focuses on man and nature (namely Navajos and Churro sheep); the latter, an ontological turn from Diné materiality toward Western enlightenment’s supercilious man-versus-nature divide. —Petala Ironcloud, ARTnews.com, 9 Oct. 2024

That protest puts her in the crosshairs of the supercilious hospital bureaucrat Andrew (Simon McBurney), who seems very willing to throw Liz under the bus, particularly once those grieving parents complain to the tabloid press. —Dennis Harvey, Variety, 17 Sep. 2024

Delia has grown warmer, wackier, and less supercilious; O’Hara, a genius of comedy, gives her a faint dash of Moira Rose dottiness. —Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2024

Advertisement The supercilious elder sisters preened. —Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2024

After appearing as supercilious EPA company man Walter Peck in Ghostbusters, Atherton completed his trilogy of goofy comedies with Real Genius (1985) and Bio-Dome (1996). —Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 28 Sep. 2023

Once the Duke of Wellington shows up at Waterloo, the fact that he’s played with such supercilious glee by the perpetually sneering Rupert Everett comes as a welcome relief. —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023

The death of John Mahoney, in 2018, robbed the revival of another beloved character, the Crane brothers’ proudly proletarian father; an audience surrogate, Martin regarded his sons with supercilious incomprehension from his lumpy recliner, beer in hand. —Colin Marshall, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Latin superciliosus, from supercilium eyebrow, haughtiness, from super- + -cilium eyelid (akin to celare to hide) — more at hell

First Known Use

1543, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

supercilious

adjective

su·​per·​cil·​ious ˌsü-pər-ˈsil-ē-əs 

-ˈsil-yəs

: coolly and disdainfully proud : snobbish

superciliously adverb

superciliousness noun