snob appeal

noun

1. the attributes of something that appeal to people who associate those qualities with social or intellectual superiority; a thing's attractiveness to snobs.

Word History and Origins

Origin of snob appeal¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

“There is a certain snob appeal that goes with using ‘R’ these days.”

From Washington Post

GM has been producing competent Corvettes since the 1950s — two-seaters long on under-the-hood oomph but short on the kind of snob appeal that Aston Martins, Porsches and the like command.

From Los Angeles Times

And it can get rather exhausting that the justification always has to come back to a comparison to Nora Ephron, the only purveyor of rom-coms who has undeniable crossover film snob appeal.

From Washington Times

“If it weren’t for the snob appeal of owning swans, we probably wouldn’t have them.”

From Washington Post

“At a moment in history when, with the rise of mass media, popular opinion was emerging in France as a force of unprecedented and unreckoned power,” Weber observes, “they infused the snob appeal of class-based privilege with a thoroughly modern knack for publicity and self-promotion.”

From Washington Post