parvenu

Borrowed from French parvenu, past participle of parvenir, from Latin perveniō (“arrive, reach”).

See also parvenue f

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑː.və.njuː/, /ˈpɑː.və.nuː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹ.və.nju/, /ˈpɑɹ.və.nu/

• Audio (US)

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  Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -uː

parvenu (plural parvenus)

1. A person who has risen, climbed up, or has been promoted to a higher social class, especially through acquisition of wealth, privileges, or political authority but has not gained social acceptance by those within that new class.
   • 2001 January 31, Francis Wheen, “The whole truth about Peter's friends”, in The Guardian:

     But the favourite's power and influence provoke intense ill-feeling among other courtiers, who regard him as a sinister, usurping parvenu with ideas above his station, or perhaps even a sorcerer.

• arriviste

• parvenuess

• nouveau riche

parvenu (not comparable)

1. Being a parvenu; also, like, having the characteristics of, or associated with a parvenu.
   • 1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 66, in The Way of All Flesh:

     Loss of money is far the worst, then comes ill-health, and then loss of reputation; loss of reputation is a bad third, for, if a man keeps health and money unimpaired, it will be generally found that his loss of reputation is due to breaches of parvenu conventions only, and not to violations of those older, better established canons whose authority is unquestionable.

   • 2001, Norman Birnbaum, After Progress, Oxford University Press:

     The Progressives were of the educated middle class, angry at the rule of parvenu financiers and industrialists.

   • 2003, Edith Grossman, chapter 1, in Living to Tell the Tale, translation of original by Gabriel García Márquez, published 2002:

     The majority of the adults, however, viewed Luisa Santiaga as the precious jewel of a rich and powerful family whom a parvenu telegraph operator was courting not for love but self-interest.

Borrowed from French parvenu.

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɑr.vəˈny/

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: par‧ve‧nu
• Rhymes: -y

parvenu m or f (plural parvenu's, diminutive parvenuutje n)

1. parvenu (a social climber not accepted by his or her new milieu, often due to crassness)

• IPA^(key): /paʁ.və.ny/

• Audio

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parvenu (feminine parvenue, masculine plural parvenus, feminine plural parvenues)

1. parvenu

parvenu m (plural parvenus, feminine parvenue)

1. parvenu

parvenu (feminine parvenue, masculine plural parvenus, feminine plural parvenues)

1. past participle of parvenir

• “parvenu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French parvenu.

• IPA^(key): /par.veˈnu/^*
• Rhymes: -u

parvenu m (invariable)

1. parvenu

Unadapted borrowing from French parvenu.

parvenu m or f by sense (plural parvenus)

1. parvenu (a person who has risen to a higher social class)

   Synonyms: novo-rico, arrivista, emergente

   Coordinate term: alpinista social

• “parvenu” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
• “parvenu” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “parvenu” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.