hauteur

noun

hau·​teur hȯ-ˈtər How to pronounce hauteur (audio)
(h)ō-

Examples of hauteur in a Sentence

she looked at him with the hauteur of someone who is accustomed to being instantly obeyed
Recent Examples on the Web The Chameleon is cool to look at (a diminutive lizard in finery worthy of the Met Gala), and Viola Davis voices her with a dour aristocratic hauteur, but all the character does, really, is to call forth her guards and summon up past villains that Po has defeated. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Mar. 2024 Rapp’s vibe in person, though, is warm and ironic, a far cry from Queen Bee Regina’s ice-cold hauteur. Emma Specter, Vogue, 12 Jan. 2024 Temple pays admiring tribute to the rest of the cast, including Jon Hamm, who appears as a highly retrograde sheriff, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, who plays Temple’s mother-in-law, a far-right Midwestern plutocrat with abundant hauteur and militia ties. Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 13 Dec. 2023 As a character, Miss Liza Jane combines the hauteur of opera diva Jessye Norman and the sermonizing wisdom of Maya Angelou. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023 Putting him and his wife and his children inside my world was the worst hauteur. Oliver Munday, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2023 It’s pushed along by his stout acoustic guitar strumming and David Rea’s sleek fingerpicking accents, which reinforce the lyric’s hauteur. Rob Tannenbaum, New York Times, 2 May 2023 The actor nicely captures Higgins’s peevish hauteur and invincible self-assurance. Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, 20 Apr. 2023 Despite this hauteur—or perhaps because of it—many of us cannot resist bringing these regal creatures into our homes, litter boxes and all. Julia Calderone, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2015

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hauteur.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

French, from haut high — more at haughty

First Known Use

circa 1628, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hauteur was circa 1628

Dictionary Entries Near hauteur

Cite this Entry

“Hauteur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hauteur. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!