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When Should You Use hoity-toity?
Hoity-toity is believed to have been created as a rhyme based on the dialectal English word hoit, meaning "to play the fool." Hoity-toity can mean "foolish" (e.g., "… as though it were very hoity-toity of me not to know that royal personage." — W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge), but it is most often used to mean "pretentious."
Examples of hoity-toity in a Sentence
Vulture Staff, Vulture, 24 May 2024
From the hoity-toity BAFTAs to the jovial People’s Choice Awards, the events this past week were pretty varied.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 24 Feb. 2024
And about having specific opinions about art not being some elitist hoity-toity thing.
—Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Dec. 2023
When the Harmonists get their big break at a hoity-toity Berlin establishment, the cast does well sending up overserious waiters, holding platters in front of their crotches for a flurry of phallic jokes.
—Vulture, 13 Nov. 2023
At the same time, though, the property is anything but hoity-toity.
—Meagan Drillinger, Travel + Leisure, 25 Oct. 2023
Besides being utterly bereft of shame, Thomas has cultivated a fake image as an Everyman, more comfortable parking his RV among the little folk in the Walmart parking lots than rubbing shoulders with hoity-toity types.
—Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Aug. 2023
Ray Carney is motile and plastic, a self-conscious journeyman who pins his rival, Alexander Oakes, a purer member of the hoity-toity Dumas Club.
—Lawrence Jackson, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023
Hansberry’s Mavis, a racist snob and antisemite complete with coifed curls and a hoity-toity hat, stands out in sharp contrast.
—Rachel Sherman, New York Times, 6 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hoity-toity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Hoity-toity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoity-toity. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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