How to Use conspicuous consumption in a Sentence

conspicuous consumption

noun
  • Browne has turned it into a badge of conspicuous consumption.
    — Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023
  • If conspicuous consumption isn’t your thing, there’s something for you too.
    — Fortune, 20 Oct. 2017
  • That means no more conspicuous consumption or the breaking of high-end hotels’ mounted stag heads.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Instead, the discourse fixates on what amounts to a form of conspicuous consumption.
    — Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2024
  • The status envy induced by conspicuous consumption may play a role.
    — The Economist, 6 June 2019
  • When the gavel at Christie’s came down, conspicuous consumption had taken a great leap forward.
    — James Atlas, Town & Country, 8 Feb. 2018
  • With the rise of business wealth in China came also conspicuous consumption and a new venue for gambling.
    — Raf Casert, USA TODAY, 16 Nov. 2020
  • Like workout culture, wellness is a form of conspicuous consumption.
    — Gabriel Winant, The New Republic, 23 May 2018
  • This is the Hamptons, after all, where conspicuous consumption is an Olympics-caliber sport.
    — New York Times, 31 Aug. 2019
  • And these are not people running in the social circles of the Kardashian clan, who are known for their conspicuous consumption.
    — Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2019
  • Nunes notes such conspicuous consumption went up after the Great Recession, too.
    — Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2021
  • Wright and Lobo-Navia are sending a powerful message to those of us who often fall hard for conspicuous consumption.
    — Brooke Bobb, Vogue, 19 Nov. 2018
  • That attitude is far removed from the conspicuous consumption and raunchy machismo of many reggaeton and Latin hits.
    — New York Times, 3 Mar. 2021
  • Still, conspicuous consumption appears to be a growing factor in the economics of smartphones.
    — Tripp Mickle, WSJ, 17 Sep. 2017
  • The conspicuous consumption of resources and the inadvertent beaming of info-waste into space will end.
    — Charley Lineweaver, Discover Magazine, 28 July 2015
  • From the top to the bottom of the income spectrum, people use conspicuous consumption and other means of enhancing their image to project status.
    — The Economist, 14 June 2018
  • The resulting retail model looks a lot less like previous notions of conspicuous consumption and a lot more like visual culture.
    — Courtney Coffman, The Atlantic, 19 June 2018
  • Likewise, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and the parable of the rich fool, the wealthy are condemned because of their conspicuous consumption and neglect of the poor.
    — David B. Gowler, Fortune, 1 May 2018
  • An abrupt drop in the sale of luxury goods after the campaign began suggests a temporary restraint in bribery and conspicuous consumption.
    — Yuen Yuen Ang, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021
  • Historically, the non–fabulously wealthy who craved the latest in conspicuous consumption had no recourse but to eat their hearts out.
    — Cintra Wilson, The New York Review of Books, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Nevertheless, the conspicuous consumption of members of the elite and their way of life make the corruption evident to observers.
    — Branko Milanovic, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2024
  • But consumers in the United States are far from the only ones navigating small space and conspicuous consumption.
    — Patrick Sisson, Curbed, 27 Mar. 2018
  • Instead, Abramovich became a master of conspicuous consumption, raising the bar for the other oligarchs.
    — Simon Usborne, Town & Country, 15 June 2022
  • The show was a portrait of wealth, glamour, conspicuous consumption and narcissism — nothing more, really.
    — Alexandra Jacobs and Patrick Healy, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2017
  • The yuppies force all their little girls into velvet and bows, a conspicuous consumption of Victoriana.
    — Thomas Mallon, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Like a seven-figure Bored Ape, these body-on-frame behemoths embody a certain brand of conspicuous consumption.
    — Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 15 June 2022
  • By the time Joe built homes for his sons Murray and Charlie, Livingston had become a town of conspicuous consumption.
    — Andrea Bernstein, The New Yorker, 13 Dec. 2016
  • Paying a lot can be a badge of honor — conspicuous consumption, an economist might say — but Thaler also allows room for mere stupidity.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 13 Oct. 2017
  • That leaves sheer conspicuous consumption as the main thrust of this car, and that's just too anachronistic a concept, even for a luxury cruiser, in 1986.
    — Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 24 Apr. 2023
  • Since the world of Hyowon Group and its ruling family is all about appearances, that includes some conspicuous consumption.
    — Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 11 May 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'conspicuous consumption.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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