Agreeing with arrogant as the best word for this
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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The word is arrogant:-
'having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.'
I always called them "arrogant for no reason"
Isn't the "for no reason" baked into the word arrogant already? If their behavior was justified it would just be called confident.
This sounds like the type of person I would refer to as a know-it-all.
Dilettante is the word you want here, I think.
Is dilettante connoted as negatively as the OP depicts the person?
Asking this as a non-native English speaker and because in French dilettante means 'someone doing an activity for the sheer pleasure/satisfaction they get out of doing it.'
I've read the definition and I guess it's not always as overtly negative, but that's easy to fix with one or two extra words, ie. "self-centered dilettante"
The French sense is how the word was originally used, and it can still be used that way. But the primary sense now is about the superficial nature of the person's knowledge or interest. So it's negative, but not as negative as the word OP is seeking.
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From looking up more usage, as it isn't a word I often hear, it seems by nature to be neutral, but context can direct it to be more positive or negative.
If I heard someone say it in conversation, it would put a lot of emphasis on the tone of the conversation to take the meaning. I'd imagine it being used more sarcastically, as it sounds like a fancy word for someone with shallow knowledge of a subject.
"John won't shut up about that trendy new art exhibit."
"Oh yeah, he's a real dilettante all of a sudden!" 😒
John had never shown interest in art before, but now that he saw it and either liked it or pretended to like it to show off his "higher appreciation of culture" than his friends now he keeps talking about it even though he doesn't know anything about art.
I wouldn't say it's impossible to use in a positive manner, but being dismissive feels more likely. If someone used it that way I'd feel I was potentially missing out on a joke at first.
I've only ever heard it used negatively; in English it has the connotation of someone who enjoys being know to do the activity but isn't invested in the activity itself; someone who isn't serious about the activity.
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I think you nailed this one. Poser was my first thought, but a poser is someone who fakes an interest to fit in. Dilettante has that gatekeeping aspect to it, which seems important to OP's description.
Here's an example usage from cambridge dictionary:
Is he a pretentious postmodern dilettante barely concealing his limitations behind mannered overwrought wordplay and the needless over-ornamentation of derivative rock songs and genre pastiches?
Yes, yes Cambridge, that's right
Exactly yes thanks. Gatekeeping is one of those words I tend to forget it exists
I agree with this, but it lacks the ‘pretentious air’ about the individual. A charlatan or poser equally partially describes this. This actually seems to be a missing term.
Yesss yes yes yes I think you've nailed it thank you! I didn't know this word, I've read the definition and it suits quite well.
Cunt
Pretentious
Elitism?
I actually like that the right word is as basic as poser.
They'd like to have a special name, but they're literally just a bog-standard poser.
Grandiose delusional
Bombastic? Pretentious? Braggart?
OP's hypothetical person is explicitly assertive. Pretentious doesn't convey assertion. You can be pretentious internally and keep it to yourself.
I second pretentious.
I think pretentious is the closest match but it's still lacking something else. Another commenter suggested two words instead of one, I guess that might be the way to go
"Pretentious douchebag" will probably fit the bill.
Pompous
I'd probably call them lost or insecure.
Most people with behaviors like that do it as a defense mechanism.
A pretentious prick
Superiority complex.
The type that usually likes to talk all the time about any subject, because everything has to be about them? That spews the biggest nonsense with great confidence? I usually call them "manager material" or "walking Dunning-Krüger".
Poser
I think it is what in Spain we call an "enterao", but I could be wrong.
I'm not sure how to translate it, maybe as "a heard about", a guy that always has heard about whatever and thinks his info is much better or knows a better way to do anything.
Or a "fantasma/casper"
That's a good one too. Wow, I now realise that I haven't used it in years.
En Chile es "alumbra(d)o", que se da "brillo" o importancia.
Intellectual snob.
Pseudo intellectual. Pseudo polymath. Pseudo erudite...
If you've got a black cat, they've got a blacker cat?
If you've been to Tenerife they've been to Elevenerife?
I call that "one-up-manship"
a know-it-all maybe, which I guess is three words, but the lil stripes inbetween are masking it
An arrogant hypocrite who's not nearly as clever as they think they are? A silly man pretending to be otherwise? Me?!
Was gonna say, I'm not throwing stones in this glass house.
I mean it could be just some flavor of narcissism or being full of it.
Or it also could just be someone with adhd or changing interests but trying to find their way in life. That could explain the breadth of things. Maybe they're struggling and were raised to be too proud of themselves. These things don't make their behavior less annoying but they might make it more understandable. Like even if it is narcissism, that is largely a learned behavior. I guess i would just try to be kind instead of trying to find 1-2 words to sum up their existence
It's alright, they may be neurodivergent as I am as well, and everyone has a story and a reason to be and do etc. I'm aware this isn't all there is to this person, I'm not trying to find two words to sum up their existence, just the part of their existence that rubs me off the wrong way.
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