9 April 2017
supercilious
[soo-per-sil-ee-uh s]
adjective
1. haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
Origin of supercilious
Latin
1520-1530; Latin superciliōsus. See supercilium, -ous
Related forms
superciliously, adverb
superciliousness, noun
unsupercilious, adjective
unsuperciliously, adverb
unsuperciliousness, noun
Synonyms
arrogant, scornful.
Antonyms
humble.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for supercilious
Contemporary Examples
Gore comes off as a supercilious grandstander who gets swatted away dismissively by the brilliant Bill Clinton.
The Quiet General Strikes Back
Lloyd Grove
October 14, 2010
To point that out, of course, will only strengthen her sense of being persecuted by supercilious elites.
How Palin Flunks Feminism
Michelle Goldberg
November 25, 2010
Too often, it’s just our supercilious attitude to this thing called relief.
The Pointlessness of Some Disaster Charity After the Indian Floods
Dilip D’Souza
June 25, 2013
Historical Examples
I replied with, perhaps, some superfluous ardor to this supercilious speech, and a very hot discussion ensued.
Ilka on the Hill-Top and Other Stories
Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
Her reception of the Currans, while supercilious in expression, was really sincere.
The Art of Disappearing
John Talbot Smith
He never saluted me with other than what I regarded as a supercilious nod of the head.
Wilfrid Cumbermede
George MacDonald
There was no concealing the fact, Cecil had meant to be supercilious, and he had succeeded.
A Room With A View
E. M. Forster
He did not care what criticism the supercilious might make, the act was to him spontaneous and natural.
The Candidate
Joseph Alexander Altsheler
My gray thought him a supercilious snob, no doubt, and hated him.
Starlight Ranch
Charles King
The haughtiness which the psalmist disclaims has its seat in the heart and its manifestation in supercilious glances.
The Expositor’s Bible: The Psalms, Volume III
Alexander Maclaren
Anagram
luscious ripe
Today’s quote
It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer
On this day
9 April 1413 – Henry V crowned King of England.
9 April 1682 – Robert Cavelier de la Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River. He names it Louisiana and claims it in the name of France.
9 April 1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.
9 April 1867 – United States Senate ratifies by one vote, a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
9 April 1937 – the first Japanese-made aircraft to fly to Europe lands at Croydon Airport, London. It’s name is the Kamikaze.
9 April 1945 – execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. He was executed at Flossenburg Concentration Camp two weeks before the camp was liberated by US soldiers. Born 4 February 1904.
9 April 1948 – around 120 fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian Arab village of roughly 600 people. The assault occurred as Jewish militia sought to retaliate against the blockade of Jerusalem by Palestinian Arab forces during the civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine. The Palestinians tried to resist the attack, but the village fell after fierce house-to-house fighting. 107 Palestinians were murdered during and after the battle for the village, including women and children—some were shot, while others died when hand grenades were thrown into their homes. Several villagers were taken prisoner and may have been killed after being paraded through the streets of West Jerusalem. Four of the attackers were killed, with around 35 injured. The killings were condemned by the leadership of the Haganah—the Jewish community’s main paramilitary force—and by the area’s two chief rabbis. The Jewish Agency for Israel sent Jordan’s King Abdullah a letter of apology, which he rebuffed. Abdullah held the Jewish Agency responsible for the massacre, because they were the head of Jewish affairs in Palestine. He warned about “terrible consequences” if more incidents like that occurred. The deaths became a pivotal event in the Arab–Israeli conflict for their demographic and military consequences. The narrative was embellished and used by various parties to attack each other—by Palestinians against Israeli forces; by the Haganah to hide their complicity in the affair; and by the Israeli left to accuse the Irgun and Lehi of violating the Jewish principle of purity of arms, thus exposing Israel’s behaviour to the world. News of the killings sparked terror among Palestinians, encouraging them to flee from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish troop advances, and it strengthened the resolve of Arab governments to intervene, which they did five weeks later. (Wikipedia.org)