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César Ritz (1850-1918) earned worldwide renown for the luxurious hotels bearing his name in London and Paris. (The Ritz-Carlton hotel company is a contemporary descendant of these enterprises.) Although they were by no means the first to cater to high-end clients, Ritz’s hotels quickly earned reputations as symbols of opulence. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a writer who often focused on the fashionably wealthy, titled one of his short stories “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” and the phrase “to put on the ritz” means “to indulge in ostentatious display.” The adjective ritzy, describing either something fancy or stylish, or the haughty attitudes of the wealthy elite, first checked into the English language in 1919.
Examples of ritzy in a Sentence
Dana Afana, Freep.com, 28 Aug. 2025
The director marks that momentous departure accordingly, with a kind of procession down Rome’s ritziest shopping street, Via dei Condotti, lined with luxury boutiques and admiring onlookers.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 27 Aug. 2025
The skyscraper soars more than 600 feet and occupies the entire city block from 51st to 52nd Street in Midtown, stretching from Park to Lexington Avenue in one of the ritziest areas of the city.
—Dakin Andone, CNN Money, 29 July 2025
The annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner will no longer feature a headline performance from comedian Amber Ruffin as tensions between the White House and the press group have escalated ahead of next month’s ritzy event.
—Filip Timotija, The Hill, 29 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ritzy
Cite this Entry
“Ritzy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ritzy. Accessed 4 Sep. 2025.
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