uppityadj.
/ˈʌpᵻti/, U.S. /ˈəpədi/ colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.).
Above oneself, self-important, ‘jumped-up’; arrogant, haughty, pert, putting on airs. Cf. uppish adj. 2d.
a. attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [adjective]
taunt?a1534
cocket1537
fastuous?1591
cobbing1599
whalebone1602
airy1606
fastigious1625
flatuous1630
high and mighty1633
vapouring1647
flatulent1658
hoity-toity1690
jackanapish1696
superior1711
penseful1788
uppish1789
pensy1790
stuck-up1812
glorified1821
toploftical1823
pretentious1832
sophomoric1837
highty-tighty1847
snippy1848
jumped-up1852
set-up1856
toplofty1859
cock-aloft1861
high-tone1864
high-toned1866
pretensivea1868
fancy-pants1870
hunched1870
snotty1870
head-in-air1880
uppity1880
jackanapsian1881
airified1882
sidey1898
posh1914
upstage1918
snooty1919
high-hatted1924
hincty1924
snot-nosed1941
posho1989
1880 J. C. Harris Uncle Remus: Songs & Sayings 86 Hit wuz wunner deze yer uppity little Jack Sparrers, I speck.
1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Nov. 776/2 Grammy is living contentedly enough with an ‘uppity’ young creature named Penny.
1952 F. L. Allen Big Change ii. viii. 130 The effect of the automobile revolution was especially noticeable in the South, where one began to hear whites complaining about ‘uppity niggers’ on the highways, where there was no Jim Crow.
1982 B. Chatwin On Black Hill v. 28 He had a head for figures and a method for dealing with ‘uppity’ tenants.
b. predicative.
ΚΠ
1932 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Aug. 6/2 [She] could have plenty o' friends. The trouble with her is she thinks folks too common to bother with unless they're too uppity to bother with her.
1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board 68 They've been here alone too long, and they've got uppity.
1955 F. O' Connor Wise Blood v. 89 I reckon you ain't as uppity as you was last night.
1966 D. Bagley Wyatt's Hurricane i. 27 The Navy is trying to build up Cap Sarrat as a substitute for Guantanamo in case Castro gets uppity and takes it from them.
1973 P. White Eye of Storm viii. 381 I came prepared to rough it... It's Dorothy who grows uppity if all the cons aren't mod.
Derivatives
ˈuppitiness n. the quality of being ‘uppity’; an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > pretension to superiority > [noun]
pensifulnessc1450
affectation1548
affection1570
affectedness1622
lady aira1637
fastuousness1649
gentility1650
fastuosity1656
vapouring1656
flatulency1662
hoity-toity1668
pretendingness1701
with an air1701
pretension1706
flatulence1711
uppishness1716
high and mightiness1771
pensieness1825
fine-gentlemanism1831
pretentiousness1838
ambitiousness1845
stuckupishness1853
pretensiveness1859
notion1866
side1870
dog1871
hoity-toityism1881
superiority complex1921
snootiness1932
uppitiness1935
snottiness1973
snoot1984
swag2002
1935 H. L. Davis Honey in Horn x. 145 Clay's bravery and uppitiness had done nothing.
1966 Listener 27 Oct. 622/1 She had decided that Joyce was ‘pretentious’ and ‘under-bred’... But who was Virginia Woolf to talk (in this purely literary sense) of ‘uppitiness’?
1975 Listener 9 Oct. 479/1 Few delegates seemed versed in Private Eye nomenclature and would, anyway, disapprove of such uppityness.
1982 R. Barnard Death & Princess ii. 17 Joe may appreciate my couthness..but he can sniff out uppitiness.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.1880