[syn: supercilious, sneering, snide]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Supercilious \Su`per*cil"i*ous\, a. [L. superciliosus, fr.
supercilium an eyebrow, pride; super over, + cilium an
eyelid; probably akin to celare to conceal. Cf. Conceal.]
Lofty with pride; haughty; dictatorial; overbearing;
arrogant; as, a supercilious officer; asupercilious air;
supercilious behavior. -- Su`per*cil"i*ous*ly, adv. --
Su`per*cil"i*ous*ness, n.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
supercilious
adj 1: having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of
those one views as unworthy; "some economists are
disdainful of their colleagues in other social
disciplines"; "haughty aristocrats"; "his lordly manners
were offensive"; "walked with a prideful swagger"; "very
sniffy about breaches of etiquette"; "his mother eyed my
clothes with a supercilious air"; "a more swaggering mood
than usual"- W.L.Shirer [syn: disdainful, haughty,
imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful,
sniffy, supercilious, swaggering]
2: expressive of contempt; "curled his lip in a supercilious
smile"; "spoke in a sneering jeering manner"; "makes many a
sharp comparison but never a mean or snide one" [syn:
supercilious, sneering, snide]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
40 Moby Thesaurus words for "supercilious":
arrogant, cavalier, clannish, cliquish, condescending,
contemptuous, contumelious, disdainful, dismissive, exclusive,
haughty, high and mighty, high-and-mighty, highfalutin,
hoity-toity, insolent, la-di-da, lofty, lordly, overbearing,
patronizing, pompous, pretentious, scornful, sneering, sniffy,
snippy, snobbish, snobby, snooty, snotty, snuffy, stuck-up, stuffy,
superior, toploftical, toplofty, uppish, uppity, withering