The Word of the Day for August 23 is: →[More:]
soi-disant \swah-dee-ZAHNG (the final "NG" isn't pronounced, but the vowel is nasalized)\ adjective
: self-proclaimed, so-called

Example sentence:
Meredith is a soi-disant gourmet, but her cooking doesn't approach the quality demonstrated by the chefs she is so quick to criticize.

Did you know?
"Soi-disant," which in French means literally "saying oneself," is one of hundreds of French terms that entered English in the 17th and 18th centuries, during the period known as the Enlightenment. Even as political antipathies between France and England were being played out on battlefields in Europe and America, English speakers like Lord Chesterfield (a patron of letters and an intimate of Voltaire) were peppering their correspondence with French. "Soi-disant" first began appearing in English texts in 1752 as a disparaging term for someone who styles or fancies him- or herself in some role (for example, a "soi-disant expert"). "Crepe," "vis-a-vis,"
"etiquette," and "sang-froid" are a few of the other French terms that became naturalized in English at that time.