Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance.
  • adjective Marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one's superiority toward others.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Making or having the disposition to make unwarrantable claims of rank or estimation; giving one's self an undue degree of importance; aggressively haughty; full of assumption: applied to persons.
  • Characterized by arrogance; proceeding from an overestimate of one's importance or superiority to others: applied to things: as, arrogant claims.
  • Synonyms Authoritative, Magisterial, Dogmatic, etc. (see magisterial), proud, assuming, overbearing, presumptuous, supercilious, lordly, cavalier, important, swelling, blustering, grand, disdainful, overweening.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Making, or having the disposition to make, exorbitant claims of rank or estimation; giving one's self an undue degree of importance; assuming; haughty; -- applied to persons.
  • adjective Containing arrogance; marked with arrogance; proceeding from undue claims or self-importance; -- applied to things.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having excessive pride in oneself, often with contempt for others.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or showing feelings of unwarranted importance out of overbearing pride

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English arrogaunt, from Old French, from Latin arrogāns, arrogant-, present participle of arrogāre, to arrogate; see arrogate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French arrogant, from Latin arrogāns, present active participle of arrogō.

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Examples

  • But instead his posture was as erect as ever, his expression arrogant and aloof, and the body that should have looked soft and pale was even more toned after months behind bars.

    Thieves Like Us Starr Ambrose 2010

  • I would not describe myself as an arrogant nerd, I prefer the term arrogant geek ...and on that bombshell

    Clothes-Minded: You Are What You Wear BikeSnobNYC 2009

  • Obama the arrogant is a very small man not fit to be president.

    Clinton fights on, Obama returns to Iowa 2008

  • Happening now, Iran defiance loud and clear inside the United Nations, the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attacking what he calls arrogant powers and reinforcing his hatred of the United States.

    CNN Transcript Sep 25, 2007 2007

  • Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei described what he called the arrogant policies of the Bush administration.

    CNN Transcript Apr 14, 2006 2006

  • His only reply would be a sweet, submissive smile which irritated her, and which she called arrogant and presumptuous.

    Women in the Life of Balzac Juanita Helm Floyd

  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says popular demands for change will put an end to the oppression of what he called "arrogant powers."

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • As in previous years he criticized what he called the "arrogant powers" and suggested the United States and its western allies were to blame for global instability.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2011

  • And he feels entitled to pass judgment on Cambridge cops or on pediatricians … As we learned in the campaign last year, "arrogant" is the new "uppity."

    Knowing His Place 2009

  • Second, I agree that "arrogant" is a very appropriate description.

    A Pat on the Back for Matzke 2009

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