Look down one's nose at someone
Meaning
To regard someone with an air of superiority and disdain, often implying that they are beneath you.
Origin
The image of 'looking down one's nose' is a universal physical gesture, embodying disdain and superiority. When one tilts their head back and peers over their nose, they are literally positioning themselves to look 'down' upon another, implying the other person is beneath them in status, intelligence, or breeding. This powerful non-verbal cue, suggesting a mixture of contempt and superciliousness, solidified into an idiom by the 19th century, transforming a common human expression of haughtiness into a vivid verbal shorthand for judging someone as inferior.
Examples
- She tends to look down her nose at anyone who hasn't been to university.
- Despite his humble beginnings, he now looks down his nose at his former friends who are less wealthy.