put on airs
to act in a superior or arrogant manner
TRANSLATION
put on airs = sich aufspielen --- GOOGLE INDEX put on airs: approximately 2,500,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Civilized people don’t PUT ON AIRS, they behave in the street as they do at home and they do not try to dazzle their inferiors.
(Russian author Anton Chekhov)
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In Australia, politicians hate to PUT ON AIRS, and so are unafraid to reach for the prosaic language of commerce when speaking before the public.
(BBC News)
(Russian author Anton Chekhov)
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In Australia, politicians hate to PUT ON AIRS, and so are unafraid to reach for the prosaic language of commerce when speaking before the public.
(BBC News)
Did you
know?
put on airs
idiom
- to act better than one really is; to pretend to be good or to be superior.
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms)
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The word air (singular), as in the invisible gases that make up the atmosphere, is from the Old French air (atmosphere, breeze, weather) and the Latin and Greek aer (air, lower atmosphere, sky).The plural airs is from the 16th century and refers to a person's manner or appearance. The sense of an assumed manner or affected appearance first appeared in the late 18th century. It's this usage that is applied in the expression put on airs, with "put on" meaning to intentionally act in a specific way.
Air is found in a wide range of other expressions and phrases including:
- clear the air = to eliminate doubts or hard feelings (After we cleared the air, we were able to discuss the real issue)
- to be up in the air = when a decision has yet to be made or when something is still unknown (The move to the new office is up in the air)
- out of thin air = from nowhere, suddenly (He appeared out of thin air)
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SYNONYMS
to be: arrogant, haughty, pretentious, ostentatious, showy, pompous
to put on a show
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Try to be yourself during a job interview and don't put on airs."
idiom
- to act better than one really is; to pretend to be good or to be superior.
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms)
---
The word air (singular), as in the invisible gases that make up the atmosphere, is from the Old French air (atmosphere, breeze, weather) and the Latin and Greek aer (air, lower atmosphere, sky).The plural airs is from the 16th century and refers to a person's manner or appearance. The sense of an assumed manner or affected appearance first appeared in the late 18th century. It's this usage that is applied in the expression put on airs, with "put on" meaning to intentionally act in a specific way.
Air is found in a wide range of other expressions and phrases including:
- clear the air = to eliminate doubts or hard feelings (After we cleared the air, we were able to discuss the real issue)
- to be up in the air = when a decision has yet to be made or when something is still unknown (The move to the new office is up in the air)
- out of thin air = from nowhere, suddenly (He appeared out of thin air)
---
SYNONYMS
to be: arrogant, haughty, pretentious, ostentatious, showy, pompous
to put on a show
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Try to be yourself during a job interview and don't put on airs."
