as in pretentious
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Recent Examples of fancy-pants
Our city is a connect-the-dots map of marvels from hole-in-the-wall joints serving next-level noodles in Queens to fancy-pants French brasseries pouring freezer martinis from gilded carts in SoHo.
—
Andrea Strong, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 Feb. 2026
Hotel-wise, the best place to be is either Kinloch Lodge, for belt-loosening cuisine and sing-worthy service, or Flodigarry Hotel, an off-compass outpost with a fancy-pants design bar and suites that wouldn’t look out of place in the Maldives.
—Mike MacEacheran, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2025
Partridge was dressed in classic English fancy-pants style, while Rodrigo embraced the vintage preppiness inherent to gingham.
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 2 July 2025
The surprise of Clover Hill is not that this sort of food is on offer in an outer borough—with its concentration of zillion-dollar brownstones and fancy-pants residents, Brooklyn Heights isn’t exactly salt of the earth.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 July 2024
With crust that's beautifully singed and wondrously puffed, the not-so-basic numbers are polished with fancy-pants ingredients—from Calabrian chile, fennel and sausage to a cacio e pepe riff made with velvety cream sauce, formaggi al pepe and pecorino.
—Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 12 Mar. 2023
Andrea Strong, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 Feb. 2026
Hotel-wise, the best place to be is either Kinloch Lodge, for belt-loosening cuisine and sing-worthy service, or Flodigarry Hotel, an off-compass outpost with a fancy-pants design bar and suites that wouldn’t look out of place in the Maldives.
—Mike MacEacheran, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2025
Partridge was dressed in classic English fancy-pants style, while Rodrigo embraced the vintage preppiness inherent to gingham.
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 2 July 2025
The surprise of Clover Hill is not that this sort of food is on offer in an outer borough—with its concentration of zillion-dollar brownstones and fancy-pants residents, Brooklyn Heights isn’t exactly salt of the earth.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 July 2024
With crust that's beautifully singed and wondrously puffed, the not-so-basic numbers are polished with fancy-pants ingredients—from Calabrian chile, fennel and sausage to a cacio e pepe riff made with velvety cream sauce, formaggi al pepe and pecorino.
—Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 12 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fancy-pants
Adjective
-
Drenched in designer labels and working at the house of Christian Dior, Blunt’s Emily has become the pretentious partner of a billionaire tech mogul played by Justin Theroux, sources said.—
Matt Donnelly,
Variety,
23 Apr. 2026
-
Miss Manners is exasperated when people consider etiquette pretentious for supplying the necessary tools to get food to mouth.—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Fuqua specifically used the historic hotel's grandiose architecture to set the scene for various scenes involving Michael's press and public appearances.—
Staff Author,
PEOPLE,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The first type is replete with hallucinations and delusions—voices, visions, grandiose beliefs, paranoia.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
And the less said of the poorly mixed, pompous Machina, the better.—
Kory Grow,
Rolling Stone,
3 Mar. 2026
-
The pompous clergyman enters the life of the Bennet family, his distant cousins, with the assumption that, given his respectable position and benefactor, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, one of those daughters would be happy to marry him.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
On average, its white blooms appear late April to early May, and develop into interesting inflated three-sided seed pods by autumn.—
Miri Talabac,
Baltimore Sun,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Baldoni’s attorneys pushed back, calling the projections speculative and wildly inflated.—
Cheyenne Roundtree,
Rolling Stone,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Wildflowers such as purple lupines and red paintbrush color the landscape, and the lengthy days and warm, sunny weather mean more time for hiking.—
Zoe Baillargeon,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Pollen-free hybrids produce large flowerheads in a range of colors including white, red, yellow, orange, bicolor, and even purple.—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The interiors lean heavily into scale, with soaring ceilings, oversized windows, and ornate detailing throughout.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
24 Apr. 2026
-
With its rounded corners, lofty windows, and ornate façade, the building incorporates elements from many periods and architectural styles.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The billionaires will likely get something in return, like bloated no-bid contracts.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Even traditions from the pre-NIL days of recruiting that have made their way over to the modern game have gotten bloated and overused.—
Austin Perry OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Unlike the stilted formality that can plague luxury properties, encounters feel genuine.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
26 Feb. 2026
-
Interviewing public figures can be a very stilted experience.—
Marc Weingarten,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fancy-pants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fancy-pants. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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