put on airs
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Japan’s colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945 introduced loanwords including gao, Japanese for “face,” adapted into Korean as “put on gao,” which means to put on airs.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2025
Zaluzhny was already known as an ambitious and modern commander, but also an unpretentious man who liked to joke with his subordinates and didn't put on airs.
From BBC • Jun. 14, 2023
Adams, who identifies as two-spirit — the term used by Indigenous communities for those who are nonbinary — did not put on airs.
From New York Times • Dec. 14, 2022
Sometimes you get intimidated by people because of their intellect, but she never put on airs.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2022
It let her feel like she was distancing herself from her mother, who Terryl always felt put on airs that everything was okay.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.