putting on airs
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.
"So I sound a bit like I have pretences, putting on airs for a while. It's abysmal for a while," she laughed.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 2025
Moreover, the script transitions him, through Finan’s effective performance, from a gawky, bespectacled nerd putting on airs, into an unctuous political predator.
From Salon • Nov. 14, 2024
Other favorites included “Mad About You” and “Keeping Up Appearances,” the British comedy about a middle-class woman putting on airs: “I was, like, a redneck just aspiring to be PBS.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2021
She knows when someone is putting on airs.
From Slate • Nov. 2, 2020
This was the Ruth I wasn’t pleased with, the one I could see every day putting on airs and pretending—the Ruth who did the slap-on-the-elbow gesture.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
