poncy
/ˈpɒnsi/US/ˈpɑnsi/
poncy adjective: intended to impress others, particularly in an excessively refined or ostentatious manner; affected, pretentious.
Adjective
poncy (comparative poncier, superlative ponciest)
- Intended to impress others, particularly in an excessively refined or ostentatious manner; affected, pretentious.
- I mean, you could tell he was a Pom all right, but he was trying, he didn't sound so poncy any more, […]1988, Janette Turner Hospital, “On Bea-particles and the Relativity of Scone Making”, in Charades, St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, published 2003, →ISBN, part I (Charade), page 100
- And in his ponciest voice he said, 'I do most humbly apologise.'1992, Liza Cody, chapter 8, in Bucket Nut, London: Chatto and Windus, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997, →ISBN, page 32
- Chiefly of a male person: effeminate; gay, homosexual.
- With sudden interest Morse turned up the volume [of the radio]: the voice was donnish, slightly effeminate. […] 'Shert erp, you poncy twit!' he said aloud, got out of bed, pulled on his clothes, walked downstairs and dialled the speaking clock.1976 April, Colin Dexter, chapter 38, in Last Seen Wearing, London: Pan Books, →ISBN; paperback edition, London: Pan Books, 2016, →ISBN
- It was Johannesburg's only regular gay bar in those days, and not even a proper bar. […] Since apartheid was a way of life, only the ponciest of African queens, only the butchest of Indian dykes could appear—noncitizens acceptable, in this underworld that was deviant but uncourageous, so long as...1990, Dale Gunthorp, “Gypsophilia”, in Naomi Holoch, Joan Nestle, editors, The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, published 1999 (2010 printing), →ISBN...
- Synonyms:
- homophile, homosexual, like that, queer, similisexual, that way
- Antonyms:
- heterosexual, straggot, straight, hetero, breeder
Proper noun capitalized: Poncy
Poncy
- A surname.
Examples of poncy in a sentence
- Don't come back without a search warrant and by God it had better be signed by someone in authority, not your poncy boss.1996, Beverley Harper, Storms over Africa, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, →ISBN; republished Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan...
- She also finds the “poncy” approach that dominates the modern restaurant trade utterly grating.2023 July 15, Josh Noble, quoting Delia Smith, “‘Life is not a bowl of cherries’”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The...
- He wore a cream-colored linen suit of a cut and color designed expressly for garden parties, the kind of suit Tom would surely have called "poncy" had he seen it on another man.2008, Galt Niederhoffer, The Romantics, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN:
Synonyms of poncy
Antonyms
Forms of poncy
| comparative | poncier |
|---|---|
| superlative | ponciest |
| alternative form | poncey |
Origin of poncy
From ponce (“kept man; pimp; effeminate man; homosexual man”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).
Words formed from poncy
Words that rhyme with poncy
Questions about poncy
- What does poncy mean?
- Poncy means intended to impress others, particularly in an excessively refined or ostentatious manner; affected, pretentious.
- How do you use poncy in a sentence?
- Don't come back without a search warrant and by God it had better be signed by someone in authority, not your poncy boss.
- What part of speech is poncy?
- Poncy can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce poncy?
- Poncy is pronounced /ˈpɒnsi/ (UK).
Words near poncy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: poncy (page history and authors); Poncy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-poncy.wav.
Cite this entry: “poncy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poncy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.