What's the difference between rude and supercilious?

Rude


Definition:

  • (superl.) Characterized by roughness; umpolished; raw; lacking delicacy or refinement; coarse.
  • (superl.) Unformed by taste or skill; not nicely finished; not smoothed or polished; -- said especially of material things; as, rude workmanship.
  • (superl.) Of untaught manners; unpolished; of low rank; uncivil; clownish; ignorant; raw; unskillful; -- said of persons, or of conduct, skill, and the like.
  • (superl.) Violent; tumultuous; boisterous; inclement; harsh; severe; -- said of the weather, of storms, and the like; as, the rude winter.
  • (superl.) Barbarous; fierce; bloody; impetuous; -- said of war, conflict, and the like; as, the rude shock of armies.
  • (superl.) Not finished or complete; inelegant; lacking chasteness or elegance; not in good taste; unsatisfactory in mode of treatment; -- said of literature, language, style, and the like.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) You need a little moleskine, to write rude ideas... Mel No, I’ve just started recycling them.
  • (2) I categorically never said that ‘Britain has so many paedophiles because it has so many Asian men’.” She added that it was “totally untrue” that she had threatened to “take this inquiry down with me”, and absolutely rejected being rude and abusive to junior staff.
  • (3) For a while yesterday, Hazel Blears's selfishly-timed resignation with her rude "rock the boat" brooch send shudders of revulsion through some in the party.
  • (4) Like low blood pressure after a heart attack, then, cheap oil should arguably be regarded not as a sign of rude health, but rather as a consequence of malaise.
  • (5) This country has had a free press for the last 300 years, that has been irreverent and rude as my website is and holding public officials to account.
  • (6) We had some memorable encounters and he was very rude to me.
  • (7) He privately told the privy counsellors' committee of inquiry set up to review the events leading up to the invasion: "If I may be very frank and rather rude, you had to keep the ball in the air with the Argentines.
  • (8) There will be dialogue and discussions about what works, rather than rude surprises that backfire.
  • (9) As Google states, it is definitely in the company’s best interest to get its first smartglass customers to behave, as “breaking the rules or being rude will not get businesses excited about Glass and will ruin it for other Explorers”.
  • (10) I think, in all honestly, if I could be Bradley Whitford I would be very, very happy.” He becomes almost drawlingly dreamy, rolling his “r”s as he leans against the warm oolite cliffs of this Jurassic Coast, until rudely interrupted by me, asking whether there’s talk of a Broadchurch 3 .
  • (11) If someone was rude to you, you were rude back to them.
  • (12) Brexiters face rude awakening on immigration, says ex-minister Read more The problem is, there is nothing on the horizon to suggest that achieving any significant reduction in immigration is achievable or even desirable.
  • (13) He repeatedly argued that his south London upbringing meant he was rude to people who were rude to him and said Jones needed to “get over it”, although he said that he was unaware of his colleague’s history of illness.
  • (14) When he sees what he's inherited, he may get a rude awakening.
  • (15) Having reassured ourselves that we’re justified in “holding them to account” and “having robust debates” and “speaking truth to power”, we’re now just flat-out rude to their faces?
  • (16) But the fact that there is a serious disagreement between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom does not mean that you should then be discourteous or rude."
  • (17) I said to them afterwards: ‘If you’re not on it 100% in this league, you’ll get a rude awakening.’’” Albion must be sick of the sight of QPR and Charlie Austin in particular.
  • (18) I can think of hordes of politicians who look worse and "weirder", with wet little pouty-mouths, strange shiny skin, mad glaring eyes, deathly pale demeanour, blank gaze and an unhealthy quantity of fat (I can't name them, because it's rude to make personal remarks), and I don't hear anyone calling them "weird", or mocking their looks, except for the odd bold cartoonist, but when it comes to Miliband , it's be-as-rude-as-you-like time.
  • (19) She said something rude, and I picked up her arm and I bit it!
  • (20) So instead of asking for anything on her birthday, she gives her friends presents, and she regularly sticks bullies and rude policemen in trees.

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.