parvenu
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Chenoweth, who is as gleaming as a holiday ornament on Liberace’s Christmas tree, arrives at a canny balance of quixotic generosity and parvenu carelessness in her portrayal of a woman she refuses to lampoon.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2025
Just as the parvenu tries to elevate himself into a higher social realm, the word climber wishes to seem more intelligent than he actually is.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 2017
He comes across as a shrewd, well-meaning parvenu who savors the expensive, tacky trappings of his success but who has no mythic stature whatsoever.
From New York Times • Jul. 4, 2013
In 1925, Gatsby’s pink suit marked him as an attention-seeking parvenu; today, you can buy a $996 replica from Brooks Brothers’ new “Gatsby Collection.”
From Slate • May 22, 2013
He shows us prominent types of character—the miser, the parasite, the legacy-hunter, the parvenu, &c., but he does not try to trace these different manifestations of life to their source.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6 "Home, Daniel" to "Hortensius, Quintus" by Various
Vocabulary lists containing parvenu
English Words Derived from French, List 7
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The Count of Monte Cristo
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
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