as in parvenus
one who has recently acquired wealth and social position
the town's old money immediately shunned these vulgar arrivistes, who may have had the cash but certainly not the class
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of arrivistes
Certainly there’s a long and distinguished tradition of associating Jewish arrivistes with entrepreneurialism, avarice, and clannishness.
—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for arrivistes
upstarts
Noun
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The countdown to the biggest-ever World Cup is on, with the 48-team tournament in North America a veritable hodgepodge of stellar names and unheralded upstarts.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Apr. 2026
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Competition intensified—with Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+, among others, entering the fray—and the 2010s’ Streaming Wars led to a golden age of TV as premium cable channels and streaming upstarts feverishly outspent one another for top talent.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
13 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Arrivistes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/arrivistes. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.
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