arriviste

arr•i•viste (ar-ee-VEEST)  n

Definition:
1. a person who has recently attained high position or great power but not general acceptance or respect; an upstart
2. a social climber; a bounder



Origin:

1901, from Fr. arriviste, from arriver "to arrive"

Related:
Synonyms: parvenu, vulgarian, bounder, upstart
Related Words: arrival

Sentence Examples:
• Imelda Marcos' rise from flats to Ferragamos is related with surprising sympathy. An arriviste in a city of snobbish aristocrats, Imelda struggled to fit in, fell into depression and then re-created herself, sometimes pathetically, in her brilliant husband's image. - Time, 1989

• What these people needed was a couple who could, like the de la Rentas, traffic in the arts and government as well as commerce and, in the process, lift their arriviste peers even as they elevated themselves. But which man was dynamic enough for that? And where was the woman that accomplished? - New York Magazine, 1986

• Ulick laid down the paper. Easter was surely on the road to victory. Duels, elopements, scandals, royal favours, Good Heavens! how that girl is going straight to her goal. She is an arriviste, but all women are arrivistes. - Painted veils, James Huneker

Sources: Free Dictionary, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day