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What do you call a person who does not go out with his friends because he thinks he is superior to them?

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8 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

I think the word you may be looking for is aloof, meaning "not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant". [Websters]

Although James had many friends, he remained aloof from them and hardly ever socialized with them.

Edited to add: The word also carries the connotation of supercilious, which means "behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others".

You could also simply say:

James remained aloof from his friends.

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Aloof doesn't work in the specific case of 'won't go out with because' though. You would still have to say 'He was too aloof to go out with his friends' or similar. – user3444 Jan 30 '11 at 21:22
@ElendilTheTall: Aloof carries the idea of remaining apart, and it also carries the connotation of supercilious, which does mean "thinks oneself superior to others". – Robusto Jan 30 '11 at 21:30
Not in the sense of 'not going out', though. I suppose it depends on how specific to that it needs to be. – user3444 Jan 30 '11 at 22:45
@ElendilTheTall: To my way of thinking, "not going out" is one way of "remaining apart" — at least to my way of thinking. – Robusto Jan 30 '11 at 23:54
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Last comment was from your Department of Redundancy Department. Sloppy edit, my bad. Too late now. – Robusto Jan 31 '11 at 0:40
up vote 4 down vote

That's a very specific question. I am unaware of a word that means exactly that. You would have to say something like:

He doesn't go out with his friends because he thinks they're beneath him.

There are a couple of words/phrases referring to someone who doesn't go out much: stick-in-the-mud, and stay-at-home, but these are general terms.

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Shut-in is another common term for a person who goes out very rarely. – Jon Purdy Jan 30 '11 at 23:41
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I don't stick-in-the-mud is the correct term in this context, it means someone who is old-fashioned or conservative. – Luke Girvin May 21 '11 at 9:51
up vote 4 down vote

This question is clearly some kind of trick or paradox.

If "he" doesn't go out with them, and thinks he is superior to them... likely they are not "his friends". Nor he is "their" friend.

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Not always true. – Arjun J Rao Feb 7 '11 at 9:41
up vote 4 down vote

Title of this question was a bit misleading. First thing that came to mind was that the person was introvert or even somehow socially constrained. If you are sure that the reason for this is that he thinks he is superior to his friends, he might be "snob" ( as Hellion already said ), "pretentious" or "haughty".

However as someone who prefers to stay home instead of going out with my friends, I'd like to point out that it is not necessarily person being smug, but merely one that avoids crowds, possibly a "homebody" in a good sense.

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up vote 4 down vote

Unsociable or antisocial maybe, if someone doesn't go out much at all (if he does go out, but not with his "friends", perhaps he's just changed his circle of friends).

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+1. Unsociable is the most apt suggestion so far, to my mind, even if it’s less exotic or exciting than some of the others. – PLL May 7 '11 at 21:21
up vote 3 down vote

See if this is of any help to you. hubristic is what I think I'd use...

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Should be 'hybristic', coming from the Greek hubris(yes, I know it's confusing.) – TimLymington May 7 '11 at 20:05
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Hubris has very different connotations, to my ear: it’s about overestimating one’s own capabilities. If you invest all your money in some shares, because you’re sure of your judgement that they’ll go up, and then they crash and you lose all your money… that’s hubris. – PLL May 7 '11 at 21:20
up vote 2 down vote

I personally would call such a person an "asshole", but "snob" also comes to mind as a possibility.

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up vote 1 down vote

Elitist doesn't quite cover all the bases (e.g., it doesn't necessarily imply that someone won't go out with his friends), but that's what I might call someone who refuses to go out with people who are "beneath" him. It works well alongside snob (as Hellion and user4395 mentioned).

Perhaps one could riff off the idea of social stratification to create a new word/phrase, although they'd have to explain what they meant as soon as they used the term.

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