wealth signaling

Wealth signaling is using clothes, watches, or lifestyle to communicate that you are rich. The opposite is "quiet luxury." Sociology and TikTok vocabulary. Not concerning, just commentary on consumer behaviour. If your kid uses it constantly, ask them where they first heard it, not to police their speech but to understand which online community they are in. Most slang of this kind moves through TikTok and group chats, so seeing it in your child's vocabulary just means they are plugged into normal teen internet culture.

Wealth signaling is a sociology and cultural-commentary term meaning the use of visible markers to signal economic class. Use in cultural and economic writing. Formal equivalent: "conspicuous consumption." Common non-native mistake: hyphenation. "Wealth signaling" (or British: signalling) is two words; "wealth-signaling" hyphenated is acceptable as an adjective before a noun ("wealth-signaling behaviour"). Read or listen to the word in context several times before trying it yourself; the right register is harder to learn than the dictionary meaning.