uppity

• uppedy, uppety

From earlier uppedy, equivalent to up +‎ -ed +‎ -y; compare blackity, biggity, and hippity (and possibly also persnickety, pernickety).^[1][2] First attested around 1880 in Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris to describe Jack Sparrer (Jack Sparrow), who tattled on Br'er Rabbit (see quotations below). Compare uppish.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʌpəti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: up‧pi‧ty

uppity (comparative uppitier, superlative uppitiest)

1. Presumptuous, above oneself, self-important; arrogant, snobbish, haughty.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:arrogant

   • 1881, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings; the Folk-lore of the Old Plantation‎^[1]:

     "Hit wuz wunner dese yer uppity little Jack Sparrers, I speck," said the old man; "dey wuz allers bodder'n' longer udder fokes's bizness

2. Exceeding one's station or position, assuming prerogatives to which one is not entitled.
   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 562:

     And the Yankees are very upset because so many uppity darkies have been killed recently.

   • 1993, David Weber, On Basilisk Station, Paperback edition (Sci-Fi), →ISBN, page 141:

     The Association was openly committed to "restoring the historical balance of power intended by our Founders" between the nobility and the uppity commoners […]

• This term has historically been used in America to describe black people who were considered to be acting above "their place", and is considered by some to have racist connotations when applied to people of color; sometimes arrogant and presumptuous, invoking the same idea, are used as codewords for it.^[3][4][5]