Meaning of airs and graces | Babel Free

Definitions

Behaviour adopted to demonstrate (originally) one's good upbringing; or (now) one's superiority; pretentious or snobbish behaviour.

derogatory, plural, plural-only

Equivalents

Examples

“He made a thouſand uggly Faces, / VVhich (as ſometimes in Ladies caſes) / VVere all deſign'd for Airs and Graces.”

“Nature has laid out all her airt in beautifying the face⟳; […] giving it airs and graces that cannot be described, and surrounded it with such a flowing shade of hair as sets all its beauties in the most agreeable light⟳.”

“Indeed, she rehearsed that exalted part in life with great satisfaction to herself, and to the amusement of old Sir Pitt, who chuckled at her airs and graces, and would laugh⟳ by the hour together at her assumptions of dignity and imitations of genteel life.”

“The station (1840) was originally Cheltenham but the more grandiose Cheltenham Spa since 1925, which feels a bit pretentious as the town has never allowed itself to assume⟳ such airs and graces.”

CEFR level