English

Noun

parvenu ‎(plural parvenus)

1. A person who has risen, climbed up, or has been promoted to a higher social class, especially through acquisition of wealth, rights, or political authority but has not gained social acceptance by those within that new class.
   • 2001, January 31, Francis Wheen, "The whole truth about Peter's friends", The Guardian

     But the favourite's power and influence provoke intense ill-feeling among other courtiers, who regard him as a sinister, usurping parvenu with ideas above his station, or perhaps even a sorcerer.

Related terms

• nouveau riche

Translations

Adjective

parvenu ‎(not comparable)

1. Being a parvenu; also, like, having the characteristics of, or associated with a parvenu.
   • 2001, Norman Birnbaum, After Progress, Oxford University Press,

     The Progressives were of the educated middle class, angry at the rule of parvenu financiers and industrialists.

   • 2003, Edith Grossman (translator), Gabriel García Márquez, Living to Tell the Tale (2002), Chapter 1,

     The majority of the adults, however, viewed Luisa Santiaga as the precious jewel of a rich and powerful family whom a parvenu telegraph operator was courting not for love but self-interest.

Translations

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paʁvəny/

Adjective

parvenu m ‎(feminine singular parvenue, masculine plural parvenus, feminine plural parvenues)

1. parvenu

Noun

parvenu m ‎(plural parvenus, feminine parvenue)

1. parvenu

Verb

parvenu m ‎(feminine singular parvenue, masculine plural parvenus, feminine plural parvenues)

1. past participle of parvenir

Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from French parvenu.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -u

Noun

parvenu m ‎(invariable)

1. parvenu

Portuguese

Noun

parvenu m f (plural parvenus)

1. parvenu (a person who has risen to a higher social class)