snob
UK /snɒb/ · US /snɑb/ noun
Forms snobs
- noun (informal, derogatory) A person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes or of some other elite (such as the masters of a certain craft) and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes, skills, etc. “an insufferable snob”
- noun (colloquial) A cobbler or shoemaker.
- noun (dated) A member of the lower classes; a commoner.
- noun (archaic) A workman who works for lower wages than his fellows, especially one who will not join a strike (a scab).
- noun (Cambridge University) A townsman, as opposed to a gownsman.
Synonyms
Etymology
Late 18th century dialectal English snob (“cobbler”), of unknown origin. Early senses of the word carried the meaning of "lower status"; it was then used to describe those seeking to imitate those of higher wealth or status. Folk etymology derives it from the Latin phrase sine nobilitate (“without nobility”), but early uses had no connection to this.
The modern sense was popularized by William Makepeace Thackeray in The Book of Snobs (1848).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A vulgar person who affects to be better, richer, or more fashionable, than he really is; a vulgar upstart; one who apes his superiors. Thackeray.
- noun A townsman. [Canf]
Etymology [Icel. snapr a dolt, impostor, charlatan. Cf. Snub.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “snob”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details