Supercilious vs Superficial - What's the difference?
supercilious | superficial |
Arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty.
* 2013 May 23, , "
*
Shallow, lacking substance.
At face value.
*
Of or pertaining to the surface.
Being near the surface.
(rare) Two-dimensional; drawn on a flat surface.
(chiefly in plural) A surface detail.
As adjectives the difference between supercilious and superficial
is that supercilious is arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty while superficial is shallow, lacking substance.As a noun superficial is
a surface detail.supercilious
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.
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* superciliously * superciliousnesssuperficial
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Secondly, I continue to base my concepts on intensive study of a limited suite of collections, rather than superficial study of every packet that comes to hand.
Synonyms
* (of or pertaining to the surface) surficialAntonyms
* in-depth * thorough * (lacking substance) substantiveNoun
(en noun)- He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.