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César Ritz (1850-1918) earned worldwide renown for the luxurious hotels bearing his name in London and Paris. (The Ritz-Carlton hotel company is a contemporary descendant of these enterprises.) Although they were by no means the first to cater to high-end clients, Ritz’s hotels quickly earned reputations as symbols of opulence. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a writer who often focused on the fashionably wealthy, titled one of his short stories “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” and the phrase “to put on the ritz” means “to indulge in ostentatious display.” The adjective ritzy, describing either something fancy or stylish, or the haughty attitudes of the wealthy elite, first checked into the English language in 1919.
Examples of ritzy in a Sentence
Erik Kain, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025
Hosted on the sprawling oceanfront estate of philanthropist Ken Griffin, amfAR returned to the ritzy enclave for its fourth consecutive year—this time, with a bang in true Ricky Martin fashion.
—Erin Michelle Newberg, Vogue, 19 Mar. 2025
With a bustling downtown core surrounded by historic neighborhoods, an international airport, and ritzy Palm Beach (where, yes, there’s a beach) just across the Intracoastal Waterway, there’s a lot to do, see, and eat in West Palm Beach.
—Skye Sherman, Travel + Leisure, 4 Mar. 2025
The physical locations of their retail spaces further this idea: Miron Crosby’s flagship studio is located in Dallas’s ritzy Highland Park Village, and another is in Aspen, Colorado, unofficial home of the jet set.
—Perrie Samotin, Glamour, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ritzy
Cite this Entry
“Ritzy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ritzy. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.
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