Sunday Word: Highfalutin
highfalutin, highfalutin' [hahy-fuh-loot-n]
adjective:
(informal) seeming or trying to seem superior, important, etc; pompous; pretentious
Examples:
When you study English Literature you're given this highfalutin poetry that you really have to get into - that once you understand, you can really appreciate. But actually getting to that point takes a while. (Stories for unsettling times, chosen by Anita Rani, Jo Brand, Richard Armitage and Rob Delaney, The State Journal-Register, November 2023)
The only thing not funny about it is that it's essentially a shibboleth, a secret handshake for the vainglorious highfalutin pseuds who use it. (James Gingell, How to write the shortest joke in the world, The Guardian, February 2016)
If it seems strange to hold a fast-food company to such highfalutin standards, it may also be just what Burger King is going for with its new 'thick, hardwood-smoked bacon'-garnished creation. (Rachel Arons, Why Does Fancy Fast Food Make Us Mad?, The New Yorker, October 2012)
He had been prepared to find her a most difficult young woman to get acquainted with. Yet here it was proving so simple. There was nothing highfalutin about her company manners - it was by this homely phrase that he differentiated this Dede on horseback from the Dede with the office manners whom he had always known. (Jack London, Burning Daylight)
I'm glad you didn't load him down with some highfalutin, romantic name that he'd be ashamed of when he gets to be a grandfather. ( L M Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams)
Origin:
1839, US slang, possibly from high-flying or high-flown, or even fluting. As a noun from 1848 (Online Etymology Dictionary)