hoity-toity

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 30, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>hoity-toity</strong> &#149; \hoy-tee-TOY-tee\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><em>Hoity-toity</em> means "<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pretentious">pretentious</a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fancy">fancy</a>, or <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pompous">pompous</a>."</p> <p>// The guidance counselor emphasized that students do not need to go to a <em>hoity-toity</em> college to achieve success.   </p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoity-toity">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"[Daniel Heider] says his post-high-school years were difficult. … 'I felt like I was at a disadvantage because everybody in DC is interning with a great congressman or is going to law school or is going to med school, and everybody's super <em>hoity-toity</em> and super important….'" — <em>The Washingtonian</em>, April 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Hoity-toity</em> is believed to have been created as a rhyme based on the dialectal English word <em>hoit</em>, meaning "to play the fool." <em>Hoity-toity</em> can mean "foolish" (e.g., "… as though it were very hoity-toity of me not to know that royal personage." — W. Somerset <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Maugham">Maugham</a>, <em>The Razor’s Edge</em>), but it is most often used to mean "pretentious."</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>