Imperious vs Supercilious - What's the difference?
imperious | supercilious |
Domineering, arrogant, or overbearing.
* 1866 – , translated by C. J. Hogarth
Urgent.
* 1891 –
(obsolete) Imperial or regal.
* 1895 –
Arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty.
* 2013 May 23, , "
*
As adjectives the difference between imperious and supercilious
is that imperious is domineering, arrogant, or overbearing while supercilious is arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty.imperious
English
Adjective
(-)- ...she glanced about her in an imperious , challenging sort of way, with looks and gestures that clearly were unstudied.
- Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth.
- She was quick, beautiful, imperious , while he was quiet, slow, and misty.
Synonyms
* (domineering) authoritarian, bossy, dictatorial, domineering, overbearingsupercilious
English
Adjective
(en adjective)British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party," New York Times (retrieved 29 May 2013):
- Buffeted by criticism of his policy on Europe, battered by rebellion in the ranks over his bill to legalize same-sex marriage and wounded by the perception that he is supercilious , contemptuous and out of touch with mainstream Conservatism, Mr. Cameron earlier this week took the highly unusual step of sending a mass e-mail (or, as he called it, “a personal note”) to his party’s grass-roots members.
- Now he was a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner.