parvenuism

Etymology

From parvenu + -ism.

parvenuism means the practices or characteristics of a social climber. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.

Why “parvenuism” is a great word

PARVENUISM — [Noun] The characteristic practices or affectations of a social climber, especially one whose newfound status is perceived as vulgarly ostentatious. From French parvenu (past participle of parvenir, "to arrive, succeed") + the English suffix -ism, forming nouns of action or practice. First attested in 1852. Unlike noblesse oblige, which imposes a quiet duty of the established, or gentility, which implies an inherited and natural ease, parvenuism is the anxious labor of self-invention. It is the too-loud laugh at the wrong moment, the aggressively new polish on ancestral silver, and the too-perfect pronunciation of a foreign vintage—a performance of arrival haunted by the whisper of departure.

noun

The practices or characteristics of a social climber.