parvenus
Newly moneyed outsiders
Parvenus is the plural of parvenu, a person who has recently acquired wealth or status but lacks the social graces traditionally associated with it.
The word carries disdain—old money looking down on new: The established families dismissed the tech billionaires as parvenus.
From French, literally "arrived."
Presumptuous newly successful people
- nouveaux richesNewly wealthy people
- arrivistesAmbitious social newcomers
- climbersThose who scale heights
- pretendersThose falsely claiming something
strivers · gatecrasher · interloper · outsider · name-dropper · wannabe · poseur · snob
Showy, often tastelessly so
- conspicuous consumptionFlaunting wealth through purchases
- mansionLarge, stately home
- luxuryExpensive nonessential comfort
- opulenceShowy, abundant prosperity
extravagance · bling · designer labels · trophy wife · McMansion · gold-plated · showy · garish
Owners of manufacturing enterprises
- railroad baronsPowerful train industry magnates
- merchant princesPowerful wealthy traders
- colonialsInhabitants of claimed territories
- nabobsPersons of wealth and power
Rothschilds · Vanderbilts · oligarchs · tycoons · magnates · new money · self-made men · bourgeoisie
- BalzacFrench realist novelist
- DickensSurname of Victorian novelist
- ThackerayWrote satirical fiction
- satiricalMocking through exaggeration
caricature · Victorian · gilded age · robber baron · merchant class · bourgeoisie · social commentary · rags-to-riches
upstarts
Presumptuous newly successful people
- nouveaux richesNewly wealthy people
- arrivistesAmbitious social newcomers
- climbersThose who scale heights
pretenders · strivers · gatecrasher · interloper · outsider · name-dropper · wannabe · poseur · snob · impostor
flashy
Showy, often tastelessly so
- conspicuous consumptionFlaunting wealth through purchases
- mansionLarge, stately home
- luxuryExpensive nonessential comfort
opulence · extravagance · bling · designer labels · trophy wife · McMansion · gold-plated · showy · garish · excessive
industrialists
Owners of manufacturing enterprises
- railroad baronsPowerful train industry magnates
- merchant princesPowerful wealthy traders
- colonialsInhabitants of claimed territories
nabobs · Rothschilds · Vanderbilts · oligarchs · tycoons · magnates · new money · self-made men · bourgeoisie · old guard
Gatsby
satirical · caricature · Victorian · gilded age · robber baron · merchant class · bourgeoisie · social commentary · rags-to-riches
- luxuryluxury, wealth, luxurious, opulent, opulence
- newcomersnewcomers, newcomer, new arrivals, new arrival, newbie
parvenusaristocrats
Hereditary ruling class
old money · blue bloods · patricians · nobility · gentry
parvenusinsiders
Those with special access
cognoscenti · tastemakers · old money · old hands · to the manor born