supercilious
/ˌsuː.pəˈsɪ.li.əs/
"supercilious" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“supercilious” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty.
Corpus desk
Index EN-supercilious · supercilious · English
supercilious · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | supercilious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌsuː.pəˈsɪ.li.əs/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “supercilious” in English
Rare enough to double-check
supercilious is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌsuː.pəˈsɪ.li.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty.".
supercilious doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Latin superciliōsus (“haughty”). The correct English form is supercilious, spelled S-U-P-E-R-C-I-L-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Arrogantly superior; showing contemptuous indifference; haughty.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how supercilious appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[H]is ſupercilious glances grevv humbled, yea, his dazeling ſplendor (eclipſt in the ſetting [i.e., death] of his Maſter) becomes quickly darkned: […]
"I've tried to be a good man, sir, and do my duty honest, and if it wasn't for the supercilus^([sic]) kind of way in which father carried on last night - a sort of sniffing at me as it were, as though he hadn't no opinion of my references and testimonials - I should feel easy enough in my mind."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin superciliōsus (“haughty”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.