snob
/snɒb/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/snɔb/
snob noun: a person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes or of some other elite (such as the masters of a certain craft) and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes, skills, etc.
Noun
snob (plural snobs)
- A person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes or of some other elite (such as the masters of a certain craft) and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes, skills, etc.
- an insufferable snob
- a wine snob
- A cobbler or shoemaker.
- The snobs were also kind to him, and gave him a pair of boots which they assured him were of a type and quality reserved entirely for officers […]1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 57
- A member of the lower classes; a commoner.
- 'D'ye know a slap-up sort of button, when you see it?' said the youth. 'Don't look at mine, if you ain't a judge, because these lions' heads was made for men of taste: not snobs.'1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC
- I like better gin-and-water than claret. I like a sanded floor in Carnaby Market better than a chalked one in Mayfair. I prefer Snobs, I own it.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 31, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
- A workman who works for lower wages than his fellows, especially one who will not join a strike (a scab).
- A townsman, as opposed to a gownsman.
- Synonyms:
- cad
snob meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
snob in Hindi
- person who seeks to be a member of the upper classes
- नकचढ़ा nakcaṛhā
snob in Tamil
- தளுக்கர், பிலுக்கர், போலிப் பகட்டர்
snob in Urdu
- مغرور
snob in Bengali
- অহংকারী ব্যক্তি, আভিজাত্যভিমানী
More languagesFewer languages
- snob in Malayalam
- പ്രണാണിമാരെ പുകഴ്ത്തി സംസാരിക്കുന്ന ആൾ, ശിങ്കിടി, അല്പൻ, പൊങ്ങച്ചക്കാരൻ
- snob in Kannada
- ಬೆಡಗುಗಾರ, ಹಣವಂತರ ಬೆನ್ನಾಳು, ಜಂಬಗಾರ, ಆತ್ಮಾಭಿಮಾನಿ
- snob in Arabic
- مُتَعَالٍ mutaʕālin, المُتَعَالِي al-mutaʕālī
- snob in Persian
- فخرفروشی
Examples of snob in a sentence
- Gerald anxiously hoped in his own mind that she was not a snob.1907, E. Nesbit, The Enchanted Castle:
- Proceed as a snob climbing the social ladder, namely, know the best people in the neighbourhood, then the best people they know.1918, Walter Lionel George, A Novelist on Novels:
- Outside of his own set he was considered rather a snob, but as his set was the set, it never worried him.1920 September, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Four Fists”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC...
- If wanting the best things in life means being a snob then glory hallelujah I'm a snob.1958, Arnold Wesker, Roots:
Synonyms of snob
Forms of snob
| plural | snobs |
|---|
Origin of snob
Late 18th century dialectal English snob (“cobbler”), of unknown origin. Early senses of the word carried the meaning of "lower status"; it was then used to describe those seeking to imitate those of higher wealth or status. Folk etymology derives it from the Latin phrase sine nobilitate (“without nobility”), but early uses had no connection to this. The modern sense was popularized by William Makepeace Thackeray in The Book of Snobs (1848).
Words formed from snob
Phrases with snob
Words that rhyme with snob
Questions about snob
- What does snob mean?
- Snob means a person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes or of some other elite (such as the masters of a certain craft) and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes, skills, etc.
- What is snob in Hindi?
- Snob in Hindi is नकचढ़ा (nakcaṛhā). See Snob meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use snob in a sentence?
- Gerald anxiously hoped in his own mind that she was not a snob.
- What part of speech is snob?
- Snob is a noun.
- How do you pronounce snob?
- Snob is pronounced /snɒb/ (UK).
- What is the plural of snob?
- The plural of snob is snobs.
Words near snob in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: snob (page history and authors); snob (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); snob (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); snob (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); snob (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); snob (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-snob.wav.
Cite this entry: “snob.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snob. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.