Standard Lemma guide

uppity

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈʌpəti/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH1 P AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Presumptuous, above oneself, self-important; arrogant, snobbish, haughty.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, boastful, lordly, bombastic, buggish, cocky, conceited, disdainful, domineering, egotistical, entitled, flatulent, flaunting, full of oneself, glorious, grandiose, hankty, haught, haughty, haut, high-handed, high-hat, high and mighty, highfalutin, hoity-toity, holier-than-thou, hubristic, hubristical, imperious, inflated, insolent, la-di-da, orgulous, ostentatious, overbearing, overweening, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, priggish, puffed up, sanctimonious, self-important, snobbish, snooty, snotty, stout, stuck up, supercilious, thrasonic, thrasonical, toploftical, toplofty, tumid, turgid, uppish, uppity, uppy, upstage, vain

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Exceeding one's station or position, assuming prerogatives to which one is not entitled.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

presumptuously arrogant- S.V.Benet- NY Times

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • had a witty but overweening manner
  • no idea how overweening he would be
  • getting a little uppity and needed to be slapped down

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: overweening

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From earlier uppedy, equivalent to up + -ed + -y; compare blackity, biggity, and hippity (and possibly also persnickety, pernickety). First attested around 1880 in Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris to describe Jack Sparrer (Jack Sparrow), who tattled on Br'er Rabbit (see quotations below). Compare uppish.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Danish: snobbet — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: fisefornem — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: arrogant — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: hovmodig — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: hoven — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: indbildsk — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: opblæst — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: vigtig — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Dutch: arrogant — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Dutch: hooghartig — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Finnish: ylimielinen — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Finnish: koppava — presumptuous, above oneself
  • French: arrogant — presumptuous, above oneself
  • French: impertinent — presumptuous, above oneself
  • German: dreist — presumptuous, above oneself
  • German: hochnäsig — presumptuous, above oneself
  • German: arrogant — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Lithuanian: pasikėlęs — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oppesen — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hovferdig — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nesevis — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Norwegian Bokmål: bråkjekk — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Norwegian Bokmål: eplekjekk — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Norwegian Bokmål: arrogant — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Plautdietsch: ippich — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Plautdietsch: grootsch — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Portuguese: metido — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Russian: самонаде́янный (samonadéjannyj) — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Russian: высокоме́рный (vysokomérnyj) — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Spanish: subidito — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Swedish: uppnosig — presumptuous, above oneself
  • Danish: opsætsig — exceeding one's station, refusing to submit
  • Danish: næsvis — exceeding one's station, refusing to submit
  • Danish: flabet — exceeding one's station, refusing to submit
  • Danish: trodsig — exceeding one's station, refusing to submit
  • Danish: fræk — exceeding one's station, refusing to submit
  • Swedish: uppstudsig — exceeding one's station, refusing to submit