McMansion

English

Etymology

Mc- +‎ mansion, 1990s.

Noun

McMansion (plural McMansions)

1. (informal, derogatory, chiefly US) A large, imposing and ostentatious house that lacks architectural integrity.
   • 1998 August 27, Benjamin Cheever, “Life in a Crater Will Do, For Now”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Twenty mansions were planned for the development, each designed to look like the biggest house in town. The McMansion we thought of as ours had an enormous kitchen, more than two stories high.

   • 1998 September 19, “Getting Smart About Art of Living Small”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[2]:

     After decades of ever-rising square footage in the McMansions that dot the suburbs, the idea of downsizing is gaining champions.

   • 2006, Rita Mae Brown, The Hounds and the Fury, Center Point Pub., →ISBN, page 112:

     They're ignorant of their social status. They think because they've built a McMansion on twenty acres, they're elite—if you can stand that word.

   • 2016, Melissa Broder, So Sad Today, Grand Central:

     Such places exist, and they exist just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, through the rainbow tunnel, where McMansions meet divination on Highway 1, Marin County, California.

   • 2020 February 27, Peter Jakubowicz, “The Drunk Men I Drive Around Every Night”, in Slate Magazine‎^[3]:

     He got out and ambled noisily into his dark, cavernous house. After leaving him and others eerily like him off at their McMansions, I often worry about who else might be inside those houses. My kids would be terrified if I came home like that at 3 a.m.

Related terms

• McChurch

Further reading

• McMansion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• scammonin