parvenu

[ pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo, pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo ]

noun

1. a person who has recently or suddenly acquired wealth, importance, position, or the like, but has not yet developed the conventionally appropriate manners, dress, surroundings, etc.

adjective

1. being or resembling a parvenu.
2. characteristic of a parvenu.

parvenu

/ ˈpɑːvəˌnjuː /

noun

1. a person, esp a man, who, having risen socially or economically, is considered to be an upstart or to lack the appropriate refinement for his or her new position

adjective

1. of or characteristic of a parvenu

Other Words From

• parve·nudom noun
• parve·nu·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of parvenu¹

1795–1805; < French: upstart, noun use of past participle of parvenir to arrive, reach < Latin pervenīre, equivalent to per- per- + venīre to come

Word History and Origins

Origin of parvenu¹

C19: from French, from parvenir to attain, from Latin pervenīre, from per through + venīre to come

Example Sentences

Beagin widens her lens to take in this cast of locals and upstate parvenus even as she stays focused on Greta’s rising fever.

From Los Angeles Times

The tendrils of Rangnick’s influence spread far beyond the parvenu clubs — Hoffenheim, Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig — that he has turned into mainstays of either the Bundesliga or the Champions League.

From New York Times

Worse, they had begun to attract the wrong sort of people—parvenus from Boston and New York.

From Literature

Pianists were the standard accompanists, but Shaw dismissed them as parvenus.

From The New Yorker

PGA Tour ranges are littered with teams of agents, instructors, lackeys and general parvenus.

From Golf Digest