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Friday September 16, 2005

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hauteur \haw-TUR; (h)oh-\ , noun:
Haughty manner, spirit, or bearing; haughtiness; arrogance.

My silence, I hoped, would be taken as expressive of the hauteur of a man who was above it all -- a man with a mission, in fact, a mission authorized from somewhere on high.
-- Jeffrey Tayler, Facing the Congo

Sheikhs and presidents have often heard little about the royal family's follies, and don't object to the hauteur and self-importance that remain its inextinguishable traits.
-- Hugo Young, "Blair and the Queen", The Guardian, April 10, 2001

That self-deprecation and lack of hauteur are typical of the earthy style that enables Powell to get close to his troops in a way that many top brass never do.
-- "Colin Powell: The master planner of Desert Shield is ready for its ultimate test", People, December 31, 1990

Hauteur is from the French, from haut, "high," from Latin altus, "high." It is thus related to altitude.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for hauteur

 

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