Word a Day
supercilious
What does supercilious mean?
supercilious (adjective): having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy.
Definition: Princeton WordNet 3.1.
How do you use supercilious in a sentence?
- His mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air. (Princeton WordNet 3.1)
How do you pronounce supercilious?
/ˌsupɚˈsɪliəs/ (IPA, American English). The app reads every word aloud.
Where does supercilious come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin superciliōsus (“haughty”).
Etymology: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Test yourself: do you know “supercilious”?
Tap an answer to check it. The same questions the app asks.
What does “supercilious” mean?
classified or arranged according to various criteria into successive ranks or grades
Not quite: that's what hierarchical means.
having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
Right! That's what “supercilious” means.
having great diversity or variety; of various kinds; made up of many differing parts
Not quite: that's what multifarious means.
having the faculty of quick motion in the limbs; apt or ready to move; loose-jointed
Not quite: that's what agile means.
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