Надменный и высокомерный

Question

В чем разница между словами высокомерный и надменный? В каких случаях каждое из них нужно использовать?

Answer 1

Historically, надменный came from "надъмєнъ", which actually means "надутый" (both in literal and figurative senses) - compare to [bloated aristocrat][1] in English.

Nowadays высокомерный and надменный are so stylistically close each to each other, are interchangeable at such degree that I believe any kind of attempt to say what is the actual difference will be, to some extent, quite speculative.

Answer 2

I think that высокомерный is slightly stronger. Also надменный is more suitable when referring to manners and style of speach such as "надменное поведение" while высокомерный is more suitable for more formal and serious cases such as "высокомерный ответ" which can refer to a written answer to a petition or something where высокомерный refers to the essence of the answer (i.e. treating the petitioner as inferior or the petition subject not important enough for the person to whom the petition is addressed) even if its style is not that special.