WASP

Meaning

1. 1nouncountableAmericaninformal

   A white American from a Protestant family of British descent, often seen as belonging to the established upper class.

   Grammar: Written in capitals as an acronym; can be used as a noun or as a modifier.

   Patterns

   • a WASP family
   • WASP culture

   He grew up in a wealthy WASP family in Connecticut, with a sailboat and a summer house.

   The novel pokes gentle fun at the manners of old WASP society in Boston.

   Some writers use WASP loosely for any privileged, reserved person from the Northeast.

Word forms

Common combinations

WASP establishment

The WASP establishment once dominated banks and elite universities.

WASP family

They were a classic WASP family with a house on the Cape.

old-money WASP

The senator was an old-money WASP educated at Yale.

WASPy

The club had a WASPy atmosphere of blazers and quiet manners.

Synonyms and how they differ

blueblood

Blueblood points to aristocratic or old-family status in general, while WASP names a specific American ethnic and religious background.

patrician

Patrician is a formal word for someone of high social rank and does not mention religion or ancestry.

Yankee

Yankee refers mainly to people from the northern or New England states, not to class and religion together.

Word family

WASPy adjective

typical of WASP culture; reserved, preppy and privileged

WASPish adjective

a variant of WASPy, with the same meaning

Anglo-Saxon adjective

of English or Germanic descent, the root of the An in the acronym

Protestant noun

a member of a Christian church that arose from the Reformation

Commonly confused: WASP or wasp?

Practice

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