yuppie
Pluralyuppies
- 1A young, upwardly mobile professional living in a city, marked by a high income and a fashionable, affluent lifestyle, often mentioned disapprovingly.
The cafe was full of yuppies tapping at laptops between meetings downtown.
Her brother became a classic yuppie, all designer suits and a sleek waterfront condo.
Note
The word began as an acronym, for young upwardly mobile professional or young urban professional, with the -ie ending that turns a description into a person. It names a stock character, a recognizable type more than an individual. It now sounds dated and can be derogatory: calling someone a yuppie usually mocks their ambition and spending rather than describing their job, so neutral writing is safer with a plainer phrase.
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Origin
Originally an acronym for 'young upwardly mobile professional' or 'young urban professional', combined with the suffix '-ie', which forms a noun for a person associated with the base word.