Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Characteristic of a person who has recently acquired wealth, typically implying they lack the taste, refinement, or social grace associated with established wealth or high society.

2. Noun:

   • A person who has recently become rich, especially one who displays their wealth in a showy or ostentatious manner and is perceived as lacking corresponding cultural sophistication or social acceptance.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Their house was decorated in a very nouveau-riche style, with lots of gold and marble.
  • He criticized the nouveau-riche attitudes of the recently wealthy investors.

• Noun:

  • The party was full of nouveau-riche trying to impress each other.
  • She was dismissed by the old families as just another nouveau-riche.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used pejoratively to describe perceived vulgarity or a lack of subtlety in the consumption and display of new wealth.
• It can imply a social climbing behavior where economic status has changed faster than cultural assimilation.

Variants and Related Words

• Parvenu (noun): A synonym for a person who is nouveau-riche; an upstart.
• Arriviste (noun): A person who has recently attained a position of power or wealth and is considered opportunistic or unscrupulous.
• New money (noun phrase): A more neutral term for recently acquired wealth, often contrasted with "old money."

Synonyms

• Upstart (noun): A person who has risen suddenly to a position of wealth or power, often arousing resentment.
• Social climber (noun phrase): A person who seeks to improve their social status.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "More money than taste": An idiom describing someone, often nouveau-riche, whose wealth exceeds their sense of style or refinement.
• "Flashy wealth": A descriptive phrase for the conspicuous consumption associated with the nouveau-riche.

Adjective

1. characteristic of someone who has risen economically or socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for this new position

Noun

1. a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status but has not gained social acceptance of others in that class