as in aristocratic
being or characteristic of a person who has an offensive air of superiority and tends to ignore or disdain anyone regarded as inferior
the complacent, elitist attitude of the members at that suburban country club
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in snob
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of elitist
Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Increasingly, universities, especially selective universities, have been labelled as elitist, self-interested, out-of-touch with societal needs, and lacking accountability.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 28 Dec. 2024
Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 18 Nov. 2024
Unlike Democrats and Republicans in America, and even on Capitol Hill, partisans that work in the swamp generally think like the other, according to Napolitan’s latest poll of America’s 1% elitists.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for elitist 
Adjective
How did this figure of speech become a pejorative for elitist artistic and/or intellectual seclusion—something to be gotten out of or pulled down for the good of the cause, the community, or, more recently, the all-encompassing market?
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 Jan. 2025
Increasingly, universities, especially selective universities, have been labelled as elitist, self-interested, out-of-touch with societal needs, and lacking accountability.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 28 Dec. 2024
Noun
Platform a fierier populist message on the economy and a cooler one on cultural issues that make some of his members feel like Democrats are out-of-touch elitists.
—Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 18 Nov. 2024
Unlike Democrats and Republicans in America, and even on Capitol Hill, partisans that work in the swamp generally think like the other, according to Napolitan’s latest poll of America’s 1% elitists.
—Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for elitist
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elitist
Adjective
-
Such features, which began appearing in high-status homes around the 10th century, were rare and signified a royal or aristocratic residence.—
Ella Jeffries,
Smithsonian Magazine,
4 Feb. 2025
-
Central France has been occupied off and on for thousands of years, by aristocratic families to nomadic tribes.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
29 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Lisette Olivera assumes the mantle as Jess Valenzuela, a history buff and puzzle snob working odd jobs in New Orleans and mourning the recent death of her mother.—
Joshua Alston,
Variety,
14 Dec. 2022
-
On their first day in town, treat your food snob to a fireworks show of Dallas at its most sophisticated.—
Dallas News,
Dallas News,
23 Mar. 2022
Adjective
-
Saxon, for instance, is filling the same spoiled, arrogant space as Jake Lacy’s Shane from Season One.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
11 Feb. 2025
-
From director James Ashcroft (Coming Home in the Dark), who co-wrote the script with Eli Kent, The Rule of Jenny Pen centers on arrogant judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush), who has to live in a retirement home after a near-fatal stroke leaves him partially paralyzed.—
Sydney Bucksbaum,
EW.com,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Where Huang’s wardrobe for Oz emphasizes his position as a clumsy social climber, aspiring to classic mafia masculinity but too crass to fit in with the old-money elite, Sofia represents a different kind of outsider.—
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw,
Vulture,
4 Nov. 2024
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Smith starred as Joyce Chilvers, a small-town social climber in postwar Northern England whose hunger to be accepted by the elite locals isn’t helped by her dotty mother nor her underachieving podiatrist husband Gilbert, played by Michael Palin.—
David Rooney,
The Hollywood Reporter,
27 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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Time was when snobbish Americans believed that French customs were more elegant than American ones.—
Judith Martin,
The Mercury News,
3 Feb. 2025
-
The notoriously snobbish set refused to dress her and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour denied her a cover even though the magazine has given every other first lady, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris, a glitzy one.—
Barnini Chakraborty,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
20 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Elitist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elitist. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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