parvenu

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
12
Words With Friends
16
Letters
7
Pronunciation
/ˈpɑː.və.njuː/(UK)
See all 4 pronunciations
/ˈpɑː.və.njuː/(UK) · /ˈpɑː.və.nuː/(UK) · /ˈpɑɹ.və.nju/(US) · /ˈpɑɹ.və.nu/(US)

Definition of parvenu

2 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A person who has risen, climbed up, or has been promoted to a higher social class, especially through acquisition of wealth, privileges, or political authority but has not gained social acceptance by those within that new class.
    “But the favourite's power and influence provoke intense ill-feeling among other courtiers, who regard him as a sinister, usurping parvenu with ideas above his station, or perhaps even a sorcerer.”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. A person who has risen, climbed up, or has been promoted to a higher social class, especially through acquisition of wealth, privileges, or political authority but has not gained social acceptance by those within that new class.
    “But the favourite's power and influence provoke intense ill-feeling among other courtiers, who regard him as a sinister, usurping parvenu with ideas above his station, or perhaps even a sorcerer.”

adj

  1. (not-comparable)Being a parvenu; also, like, having the characteristics of, or associated with a parvenu.
    “Loss of money is far the worst, then comes ill-health, and then loss of reputation; loss of reputation is a bad third, for, if a man keeps health and money unimpaired, it will be generally found that his loss of reputation is due to breaches of parvenu conventions only, and not to violations of those older, better established canons whose authority is unquestionable.”
    “The Progressives were of the educated middle class, angry at the rule of parvenu financiers and industrialists.”
    “The majority of the adults, however, viewed Luisa Santiaga as the precious jewel of a rich and powerful family whom a parvenu telegraph operator was courting not for love but self-interest.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Borrowed from French parvenu, past participle of parvenir, from Latin perveniō (“arrive, reach”). See also parvenue f

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