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Webster 1913 Edition

Haughty

Haugh′ty

(ha̤′ty̆)
,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Haughtier
(ha̤′tĭ-ẽr)
;
sup
erl.
Haughtiest
.]
[OE.
hautein
, F.
hautain
, fr.
haut
high, OF. also
halt
, fr. L.
altus
. See
Altitude
.]
1.
High; lofty; bold.
[Obs. or Archaic]
To measure the most
haughty
mountain’s height.
Spenser.
Equal unto this
haughty
enterprise.
Spenser.
2.
Disdainfully or contemptuously proud; arrogant; overbearing.
A woman of a
haughty
and imperious nature.
Clarendon.
3.
Indicating haughtiness;
as, a
haughty
carriage
.
Satan, with vast and
haughty
strides advanced,
Came towering.
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Haughty

HAUGHTY

,
Adj.
hau'ty. [from haught.]
1.
Proud and disdainful; having a high opinion of one's self, with some contempt for others; lofty and arrogant; supercilious.
His wife was a woman of a haughty and imperious nature.
A haughty spirit goeth before a fall. Prov.16.
2.
Proceeding from excessive pride, or pride mingled with contempt; manifesting pride and disdain; as a haughty air or walk.
3.
Proud and imperious; as a haughty nation.
4.
Lofty; bold; of high hazard; as a haughty enterprise.

Definition 2024

haughty

haughty

English

Adjective

haughty ‎(comparative haughtier, superlative haughtiest)

  1. Conveying in demeanour the assumption of superiority; disdainful, supercilious.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 3/1/1, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
      How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […] .

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:arrogant

Translations

Usage notes

Possibly due to the similar sounding (and utterly different in meaning) hottie, haughty has become rare in some parts of North America.

References

  • “haughty” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Etymology

From earlier hauty, haultic, with spelling change in imitation of naughty and high, from Middle English hautein, hautain (with -ein, -ain becoming -y through the form hautenesse standing for *hauteinnesse; see haughtiness), from haute ‎(“self-important”), from Old French haut, hault ‎(“high, lofty”), from Frankish *hauh, hōh ‎(“high, lofty, proud”) and Latin altus ‎(“high, deep”). More at high, old. Current form analysed as haughty + -ness.

Pronunciation

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