Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Pretentiously self-important; pompous.
- adj. Given to frivolity or silliness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- An exclamation denoting surprise or disapprobation, with some degree of contempt: equivalent to pshaw.
- Elated; giddy; flighty; petulant; huffy: as, he is in hoity-toity spirits.
Wiktionary
- adj. Pompous, self-important and snobbish.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Thoughtless; giddy; flighty; also, haughty; patronizing; ; used also as an exclamation, denoting surprise or disapprobation, with some degree of contempt.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. affectedly genteel
Etymologies
- From the archaic verb hoit ("to play the fool; to behave thoughtlessly and frivolously") (Wiktionary)
- From reduplication of dialectal hoit, to romp; perhaps akin to hoyden. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Dursley friends recieved the packet you sent by Parcel, and are all hoity-toity, and so could I, was I going to ride home with them.”
“It has allowed Mrs. Palin to dismiss any criticism of her—no matter how straightforward—as yet more hostility from opponents, or as hoity-toity blather from inside-the-Beltway mopes.”
“These/You people (lawyers) are an elitist, hoity-toity club.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Miguel Estrada Writes in Support of Elena Kagan’s Confirmation
“The rhetoric of prejudicial disdain is meted out, on the one hand against the “hoity-toity”, and on the other against the “hoi poloi” -- against the “snob” with complex tastes and the “pleb” with simple tastes.”
“There are hoity-toity rich people just around the corner.”
“He's a troubled kid at a fancy, hoity-toity high school, says Mitchell.”
Exclusive First Look: Grimm Takes on the Pied Piper -- Rats!
“ADAM: Methinks we're going to meet lots of parents, including the hoity-toity British mother and father of Walden's new girlfriend.”
Mega Buzz: New Loves on Big Bang Theory, House and Lots of Grey's Anatomy Tears
“People think New Mexico is all hoity-toity, high-end—or, for the real out-there people, there's Roswell" and flying saucers, Ms. Molidor said.”
The Wall Street Journal: The 'Land of Enchantment' Needs a Lift
“And there have been a series of performances in association with the Sun that shocked the more hoity-toity.”
The Guardian: The Royal Opera House: Welcome to the new people's palace | Observer Profile
“In a way it is heartening that he can still arouse this agitation, that there is space in our game for cultural differences, even imaginary ones Wenger is after all not really a hoity-toity Frenchman: he is a hoity‑toity economist – coming over here, taking our jobs, failing to bankrupt our football clubs.”
The Guardian: Arsenal's failure to win trophies is not down to faint hearts | Barney Ronay
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hoity-toity’.
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•Public List: Delightful Ejaculations
All those awesome phrases you hear that you want to say every chance you get. Thanks to adoarns for the inspiration (on the vitamin h page).
just tits, jumping jesus on ..., sweet mother of p..., great day in the ..., ye gods and littl..., leaping lizards, holy cats, hot damn, good gosh miss agnes, mother dog, good night, hoover dam! and 102 more...
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old timey talk
Words or Sayings from the 1920's or whatever that no one really uses anymore (at least in that context).
scram, bearcat, heavens to betsy, dick, double-cross, ducky, gams, goofy, hooch, jalopy, john, joe and 174 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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EN - compound adjectives
Adjectively used nominal phrases with a "-" inside.
t-test, O-ring, B-grade, so-called, on-site, at-large, in-your-face, in-state, on-time, up-to-the-minute, in-store, on-call and 965 more...
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words that just sound funny
maybe it's just me but these words are fun to say or make me laugh or smile
monangahela, sisyphus, schlub, sassafrass, lollapalooza, mulligrubs, hoity-toity, hashmagandy, zenzizenzizenzic, addlepated, nincompoop, brouhaha and 3 more...
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words i enjoy
wiggly-waggley, higgledy-piggledy, artsy-fartsy, clip-clop, fancy-shmancy, handy-andy, hanky-panky, heebie-jeebies, hoity-toity, hoochy koochy, hurdy-gurdy, bee's knees and 10 more...
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Hyphen-hyphen
A list of interesting words incorporating a hyphen
cat's-paw, sea-mew, kiss-me-quick, kiss-ass, yellow-bellied, lily-livered, hush-hush, hugger-mugger, fox-trot, super-duper, fuddy-duddy, boogie-woogie and 33 more...
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Choi inspired
Fun words my friend loves and others I introduced to him.
Namby-pamby, Niminy piminy, Nitpick, Nit-wit, Piggly-wiggly, Ping-pong, Pitter-patter, Raggle-taggle, Riff-raff, zoot suit, zig-zag, wishy-washy and 73 more...
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Words To Use In Creative Writing
hag-ridden, light-heeled, wendigo, longshanks, fatuous, insipid, sodden, bulging, sycophantic, uncourtly, gauche, assuasive and 174 more...
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onomatopoeia - versions of
definition look &/or sounds like the word, feels like the word,
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Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
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vmarinelli's Words
canard, gumption, inexorable, insouciance, inviolable, mordant, euphonious, sawbuck, carpe diem, pay dirt, adipocere, profligate and 496 more...
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Double Trouble
Reduplicatives and more.
splish-splash, hip-hop, kit-kat, dingaling, hugger-mugger, even-steven, tit for tat, higgledy-piggledy, dilly-dally, boogie-woogie, knick-knack, mai tai and 131 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hoity-toity.
sionnach Ooh! *Plans to try it out on Boris at the first available opportunity*
Apr 10, 2009
madmouth An invective against a 'proud puss' (e.g. "Hoity-toity, Miss Starr!" -L.M. Montgomery, 'Emily of New Moon') Apr 10, 2009
bilby "A hoity-toity wench: a giddy, thoughtless, romping girl."
- Francis Grose, 'The Vulgar Tongue'. Sep 8, 2008
whichbe 1. Pretentiously self-important; pompous.
2. Given to frivolity or silliness. May 14, 2008