uppityness


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up·pi·ty

 (ŭp′ĭ-tē)
adj. Informal
1. Haughty or presumptuous, especially for one's rank or social standing: "At Vassar the girls she knew were better dressed than she was and had uppity finishing school manners" (John Dos Passos).
2. Not complacent or deferential; strongly self-assertive: "Even those who'd mastered the broom, Andrew Carnegie said ... needed to get a little uppity at some point" (Megan Hustad).
[From up.]
up′pi·ti·ness, up′pi·ty·ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

uppityness

(ˈʌpɪtɪnəs) or

uppitiness

n
the quality or state of being uppity
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.uppityness - assumption of airs beyond one's stationuppityness - assumption of airs beyond one's station
uppishness
effrontery, presumptuousness, presumption, assumption - audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to; "he despised them for their presumptuousness"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

uppityness

noun
Informal. The state or quality of being impudent or arrogantly self-confident:
assumption, audaciousness, audacity, boldness, brashness, brazenness, cheek, cheekiness, chutzpah, discourtesy, disrespect, effrontery, face, familiarity, forwardness, gall, impertinence, impudence, impudency, incivility, insolence, nerve, nerviness, overconfidence, pertness, presumptuousness, pushiness, rudeness, sassiness, sauciness.
Informal: brass, crust, sauce, uppishness.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Embittered by the get-inline treatment of black entertainers, Cosby then and there refashioned himself around the myth of uppityness and well-to-do blackness so well that he became the mascot for the luxuries that he had never experienced.
Four men
(31) In Chutzpah, he defines the Jewish stereotype as "boldness, assertiveness, a willingness to demand what is due, to defy tradition, to challenge authority, to raise eyebrows." (32) He also recognizes that detractors define these sets of characteristics as "unmitigated gall, nerve, uppityness, arrogance, hypocritical demanding." (33)
Alan Dershowitz: the advocate and scholar as Jew; the Jew as advocate and scholar
Often times, the term is used in a derogatory way to negate the perceived "uppityness" of those who act in these ways as a way to undermine their assumed authority by reminding them of their true heritage, which usually includes elements of African ancestry.
"A Ghetto education is basic": (Jamaican) Dancehall masculinities as counter-culture

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