toplofty

[ top-lawf-tee, -lof- ]

adjective

1. condescending; haughty.

toplofty

/ ˈtɒpˌlɒftɪ /

adjective

1. informal.
   haughty or pretentious

Derived Forms

• ˈtopˌloftiness, noun
• ˈtopˌloftily, adverb

Other Words From

• toplofti·ly adverb
• toplofti·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of toplofty¹

First recorded in 1820–30; back formation of earlier toploftical, extracted from top loft “the uppermost story, topmost gallery”; top ¹, lofty

Example Sentences

“Your bread! When did it come to be yours? By Amon, you have grown too toplofty of late, behaving like Pharaoh instead of the gutter waif you are. Aye, a waif, and remember it! Where would you be this moment, had I not offered you food and lodging out of the goodness of my heart? Sleeping in the dust of the streets, aye, and fighting the dogs for their leavings. Instead, you live comfortably on my bread.”

From Literature

This settled quality makes Trilling’s letters a bit toplofty and dull.

From New York Times

One young toplofty gallant set the tone: “Well, think of that! Telemakhos has a mind to murder us. He’s going to lead avengers out of Pylos, or Sparta, maybe; oh, he’s wild to do it. Or else he’ll try the fat land of Ephyra— he can get poison there, and bring it home, doctor the wine jar and dispatch us all.”

From Literature

But Joseph Jefferson, a far more versatile comedian than John Gilbert, was swift to discern merit, and he was wholly free from toplofty condescension toward other forms of the histrionic art than that in which he was himself pre-eminent—perhaps, because in his youth he had often appeared as a burlesque actor, an experience which he gladly admitted to have been very valuable to him.

From Project Gutenberg

Aldous Huxley adopted a toplofty attitude toward his creatures, but he had the intellectual force to transform snobbery into satire.

From Time Magazine Archive

Related Words

• aloof
• arrogant
• averse
• contemptuous
• derisive
• haughty
• unsympathetic