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Parvenus are people that are relative newcomers to a socioeconomic class. The word derives from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb parvenir (to reach or arrive).

The word "parvenu" typically describes a person who recently ascended the social ladder, especially a nouveau riche or "New Money" individual. The famous Molly Brown, who survived the Titanic sinking in 1912, was considered a "new money" individual due to her impoverished, Irish immigrant roots and lack of social pedigree.

The term designates individuals not socially accepted by individuals already established in their new class. It is a form of classism.

Several examples might include professional athletes or rap/hip hop musicians born and raised in poverty and suddenly finding themselves with significantly higher sources of income due to their newfound celebrity status. The established Old Money factions of society often choose to exclude these individuals from their ranks, with the argument that such people are tasteless in their spending and use their wealth to flaunt their upbringing rather than acquiescing to the accepted behaviour of the social class.

The Bonaparte family were considered parvenu royalty by other royal families of Europe. Napoleon III tried to marry into Swedish and German royalty, but was unsuccessful due to his status as parvenu.

Other examples may have worked their way up the ladder, originally poor immigrants to the United States. Originally immigrant workers, they would have found themselves able to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the U.S., moving on to become civil servants, "white collar" (business/office) workers and finally to the "gentry." Such an example might be John Jacob Astor, whose family once skinned rabbits for a living and went on to build icons of New York City as the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, with his brother. Not anywhere near as common in Europe due to the well-established histories of European countries, nor is it as common in present-day U.S. due to largely the same reasons.

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby represents the newly rich, through his illicit activities including selling bootleg liqueur, and his decadent parties.

In the film Downfall, Hitler refers to Goering as "ein Parvenu!".