ultracrepidarian
/ˌʌltɹəˌkɹɛpɪˈdɛəɹiən/
ultracrepidarian adjective: giving or offering opinions on something beyond one's knowledge or expertise.
Adjective
ultracrepidarian (comparative more ultracrepidarian, superlative most ultracrepidarian)
- Giving or offering opinions on something beyond one's knowledge or expertise.
- […]like a conceited mechanic in a village ale-house, you would set down every one who differs from you as an ignorant blockhead; and very fairly infer that any one who is beneath yourself must be nothing. You have been well called an Ultra-Crepidarian critic.1819, William Hazlitt, “A Letter to William Gifford, Esq.”, in A. R. Waller, Arnold Glover, editors, The Collected Works of William Hazlitt, volume 1, London: J. M. Dent & Co., published 1902, page...
- [Inspector Queen] was the only person in New York who might be called, without intent to malign, an Ultracrepidarian critic. It was of the very nature of his job to find fault with small and insignificant details.1933, Ellery Queen, The American Gun Mystery
Noun
ultracrepidarian (plural ultracrepidarians)
ultracrepidarian meaning in Tamil
ultracrepidarian in Tamil
- போலிப்புலமை
Forms of ultracrepidarian
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more ultracrepidarian |
| superlative | most ultracrepidarian |
| Noun | |
| plural | ultracrepidarians |
Origin of ultracrepidarian
Attributed to English essayist and writer William Hazlitt, who used it in a letter to William Gifford (see quotation below); from ultra- (“beyond”) + Latin crepida (“a particular style of Greek sandal”) + -arian, evidently formed directly on the Latin proverb ne ultra/supra crepidam ("not beyond the crepida"). The reference is to a Greek story concerning the painter Apelles, who supposedly placed new works on public display and hid behind them to hear and act upon people's reactions. In Book 35 of his Natural History, Pliny the Elder records that a shoemaker noted that one figure had the wrong number of straps on his crepida, a kind of elaborate sandal. Delighted to see it fixed the next day, he supposedly began to critique the form of the leg, so annoying Apelles that the painter came out to tell him to mind his own business: that a shoemaker should restrict his commentary to the shoes.
Words formed from ultracrepidarian
Questions about ultracrepidarian
- What does ultracrepidarian mean?
- Ultracrepidarian means giving or offering opinions on something beyond one's knowledge or expertise.
- What is ultracrepidarian in Tamil?
- Ultracrepidarian in Tamil is போலிப்புலமை. See Ultracrepidarian meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is ultracrepidarian?
- Ultracrepidarian can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce ultracrepidarian?
- Ultracrepidarian is pronounced /ˌʌltɹəˌkɹɛpɪˈdɛəɹiən/.
Words near ultracrepidarian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ultracrepidarian (page history and authors); ultracrepidarian (Tamil 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-ultracrepidarian.wav.
Cite this entry: “ultracrepidarian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ultracrepidarian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.