as in arriviste
one who has recently acquired wealth and social position
having made their money in oil decades ago, they consider these billionaire dot-commers mere upstarts
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of upstart
Chinese artificial intelligence upstart DeepSeek shocked many investors and rattled the U.S. stock market, which has relied on gains from AI for the past two years.
—
Hakyung Kim, CNBC, 28 Jan. 2025
But the College Football Playoff — the 12-team tournament that led to the championship game — also included relative upstarts like Boise State, Arizona State and Southern Methodist University.
—New York Times, 19 Jan. 2025
Mega social media platforms usually suffer a long death, shedding relevance and users as they’re slowly usurped by a new innovative generation of upstarts, like Facebook muscling out Myspace.
—Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2025
The Lone Star State is no longer an upstart, but rather a leading exporter of conservative policy and jurisprudence.
—The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for upstart 
Hakyung Kim, CNBC, 28 Jan. 2025
But the College Football Playoff — the 12-team tournament that led to the championship game — also included relative upstarts like Boise State, Arizona State and Southern Methodist University.
—New York Times, 19 Jan. 2025
Mega social media platforms usually suffer a long death, shedding relevance and users as they’re slowly usurped by a new innovative generation of upstarts, like Facebook muscling out Myspace.
—Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2025
The Lone Star State is no longer an upstart, but rather a leading exporter of conservative policy and jurisprudence.
—The New Yorker, 24 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for upstart
Recent Examples of Synonyms for upstart
Noun
-
Where’s our charming arriviste?—
Jason Gay,
WSJ,
21 Dec. 2020
-
Compared with some of her peers, she was initially seen as an arriviste.—
Caitlin Moscatello,
New York Times,
3 Mar. 2023
Noun
-
In 1952, backed by little more than his reputation as a war hero and a fortune staked by his parvenu father, 35-year-old John F. Kennedy swiped a Senate seat from Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, himself a wealthy combat veteran.—
Kevin Mahnken,
The New Republic,
1 Sep. 2020
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Raveendran, at least on paper, assumes his place among those parvenus thanks to his effort in internet education.—
Saritha Rai,
Fortune,
29 July 2019
Noun
-
With his distinctive striped coat and bright, curious eyes, Gizmo is the epitome of a little adventurer.—
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,
arkansasonline.com,
16 Feb. 2025
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Along for the ride will be fellow adventurers Eric Philips of Australia, Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway and Rabea Rogge of Germany.—
Richard Tribou,
Orlando Sentinel,
15 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
The battle of the nouveau riche could just as easily be referred to as the Oil Firm.—
Darren Richman,
The Athletic,
21 Jan. 2025
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Advertisement Who does Johnson consider nouveau riche?—
Ben Bolch,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near upstart
Cite this Entry
“Upstart.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/upstart. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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