Word of the Day

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

arriviste

\a-ree-VEEST\ , noun;

A person who has recently attained success, wealth, or high status but not general acceptance or respect; an upstart.

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Quotes:

Sherman, in his $1,800 imported suit and British hand-lasted shoes is . . . an arriviste and a poseur.

-- Frank Conroy, "Urban Rats in Fashion's Maze", New York Times, November 1, 1987

He excavates enough dirt that, midway through the book, the reader loses sympathy with Bernays, who comes across as an insufferable egotist and insecure, name-dropping arriviste.

-- Ron Chernow, "First Among Flacks", New York Times, August 16, 1998

Since January its market value in Europe has risen more than threefold, topping $7.5 billion and making its founder, a 34-year-old Cambridge University Ph.D., a billionaire arriviste.

-- Elizabeth Corcoran, "The Searcher", Forbes, April 2000

Origin:

Arriviste comes from French, from arriver, "to arrive," from (assumed) Vulgar Latin arripare, "to reach the shore," from Latin ad-, "to, toward" + ripa, "shore."