What's the difference between proud and supercilious?

Proud


Definition:

  • (superl.) Feeling or manifesting pride, in a good or bad sense
  • (superl.) Possessing or showing too great self-esteem; overrating one's excellences; hence, arrogant; haughty; lordly; presumptuous.
  • (superl.) Having a feeling of high self-respect or self-esteem; exulting (in); elated; -- often with of; as, proud of one's country.
  • (superl.) Giving reason or occasion for pride or self-gratulation; worthy of admiration; grand; splendid; magnificent; admirable; ostentatious.
  • (superl.) Excited by sexual desire; -- applied particularly to the females of some animals.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It’s as though the nation is in the grip of an hysteria that would make Joseph McCarthy proud.
  • (2) "I am deeply proud of the achievements of the Met since I became commissioner.
  • (3) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Asked if Watson should seek to refresh his mandate after Corbyn’s overwhelming victory among members, McCluskey added: “Well, if Tom wants to try to refresh his mandate it would be interesting to see what happens.” Watson said it was time “to be proud of our party”, because the Conservatives were beatable and the prime minister, Theresa May, could call an election any time.
  • (4) Proud of the way his forces behaved, he plans to frame the operational map of the night for his office wall.
  • (5) Baker was proud of having fired her dramatic coach from the set and needing a maximum of only five takes for the difficult actress.
  • (6) So we were proud in 1997 to put forward the case for Britain’s first minimum wage.
  • (7) I’m proud of my team and of women’s football, it was an incredible performance,” he said.
  • (8) Social workers are blamed and vilified, but we should be proud of what we do Read more “We have six seats for 11 people,” says Sarah Grade*, a children and families social worker based in south London.
  • (9) Katwala says the old choice was between national pride on the one hand and acceptance that Britain had changed on the other: "Now we can be proud of the nation that has changed."
  • (10) Twitter and Facebook were filling up with pictures of proud, defiant Afghans holding up fingers stained with ink.
  • (11) We can be proud that there are people alive in Africa ... because of what we have done for people living thousands of miles away.
  • (12) In contrast, Redpath and Proud (Redpath, N. T., and Proud, C. G. (1989) Biochem.
  • (13) Both groups are served by about 17,000 restaurants, most of them proud of their contribution to what the city believes is the highest-quality and most diverse cuisine on the planet.
  • (14) Clearly, on this occasion we not only failed ourselves, but the university which we are so proud to represent.
  • (15) Christine Langan of BBC Films told Screen Daily: "Compelling, funny and moving, Gold is a gem of a story and BBC Films is proud to be participating in bringing it to an international audience."
  • (16) The symbolism and the politics of the law are far more troubling and far more toxic than the actual substance of what the law will do itself.” That symbolism compelled store owners in Indianapolis to put up signs that say: “Instead of hate, we proudly serve everyone,” “This Hoosier still opposes the anti-LGBT license to discriminate,” and “Open for service!
  • (17) That's completely and utterly grotesque and, no matter how proud we all are in the labour movement that the minimum wage exists, not a single day goes by that we shouldn't be disgusted with ourselves for that.
  • (18) But he mocked Mitchell when he told the BBC Sunday Politics: "He's never used it in my presence, but then again I'm very proud myself to be a pleb."
  • (19) Rudd's spectacular fall is a fate that the now former PM, a proud man who some say is driven by a quiet rage, will find difficult to accept – he shed tears in his farewell address .
  • (20) Dombey treads proudly towards his doom with the author's unheard warnings ringing in his ears.

Supercilious


Definition:

  • (a.) Lofty with pride; haughty; dictatorial; overbearing; arrogant; as, a supercilious officer; asupercilious air; supercilious behavior.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Comment is perfectly legitimate, but the sneering, supercilious, specious and dismissive contributions masquerading as ‘commentary’ belittle the claims of a ‘quality’ paper.” Before attempting to assess the validity of the reader’s analysis – broadly shared by some other readers – I think his email reflects one or two other interesting aspects of the demographics of the Guardian’s readership and the left.
  • (2) After former tabloid editor Piers Morgan was fired from CNN , there were warnings that the US media was now poisoned to British accents and supposed superciliousness.
  • (3) But when I saw the advert it occurred to me that it, and that supercilious exclamation mark in particular, could in fact give people an excuse to express their homophobia.
  • (4) A decade later when I met him again in a hotel suite in London, it was more Mona Lisa than Cheshire Cat - coolly supercilious, ultimately indecipherable.
  • (5) It was often veiled, supercilious and sinister, but on screen he made us an offer we couldn't refuse.
  • (6) So the relationship that begins at the Milford railway station (it's two metaphorical stops down the line from Borchester – The Archers began five years after Brief Encounter) with a piece of grit in Laura's eye and Alec's unquestionably clean handkerchief will lead to afternoons together, lunch and a visit to the cinema (their silly movie is called Flames of Passion), a country drive, and an awkward trip to a friend's flat (the supercilious Valentine Dyall).
  • (7) Recently, I have caught myself saying something in everyday conversation that a few years ago would have elicited a cry of “supercilious wanker” from me if I’d heard someone else say it.
  • (8) Brexit, said Putin, was a result of irritation over Britain subsidising weaker economies, and “the British government’s self-assuredness and supercilious attitude to life-changing decisions in their own country and Europe in general”.
  • (9) I was made to regret it almost immediately when I was loudly condemned as a “supercilious prick”.
  • (10) Shimell's character is very supercilious and unsympathetic – he has a Basil Fawlty-esque fit of temper in a restaurant – and it is not easy to tell if this is deliberate, or if Kiarostami thinks Shimell elegant and cerebral.
  • (11) To others, though, he is at his supercilious worst here; floating the idea that, having withdrawn from the union, Scotland, in its beneficence, can turn round and preach to the English about how to deal with the nasty Tories.
  • (12) Their particular brand of upper class snobbery is now so anachronistic it’s simply amusing: in an obituary this week of Deborah , the writer pointed to a list of the late Duchess of Devonshire’s dislikes, which included but was not limited to “the bits of paper that fall out of magazines; female weather forecasters; the words ‘environment’, ‘conservation’ and ‘leisure’; supercilious assistants at makeup counters; dietary fads; skimmed milk; girls with slouching shoulders and Tony Blair.” And then there are the Nazis.
  • (13) You know when you're out walking and you see a party of riders, and they give you a slightly supercilious look?
  • (14) President Barack Obama is often criticised for superciliousness and arrogance.
  • (15) Now usually it would be advisable to ignore such news and treat in the same way as someone telling you that the sun is "hot and yellow", Piers Morgan is "smug and annoying", Katie Hopkins is "snobbish and supercilious" and the Mill is "tired and emotional" — it's just the way of life.