cream of the crop
9
3.4
- idiom
- Informal
- In this competition, only the cream of the crop will be selected for the final round.
- cream of the crop," he said
- get the cream of the crop
- here is the cream of the crop
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Watch on YouTubeIt's, I'd like to say DEA selects the cream of the crop.
- It's, I'd like to say DEA selects the cream of the crop.
- They're the cream of the crop, the best surgeons.
- These are the cream of the crop in my world that I am still reaching for day after day after day.
- He's that big, strong dude, like cream of the crop when it comes to being a fucking man.
- I would say the Swiss lint is the fucking cream of the crop.
- Like, how lucky am I to be able to like literally I'm conversating with the cream of the crop to prove the world, to prove right.
- You get the the cream of the crop, the cream of the crop.
Examples
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They're the cream of the crop, the best surgeons.
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Not exactly the cream of the crop, but at this stage they may be the only players available.
Blog text (8) -
I want to make sure you get the cream of the crop.
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And over here we have the current cream of the crop.
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We are the cream of the crop.
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What you have here is the cream of the crop of the radio industry.
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I agree that we are not looking at the cream of the crop.
Blog text (2) -
These are the cream of the crop in my world that I am still reaching for day after day after day.
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But, for me, Nick Faldo is the cream of the crop and seems to be only getting better.
Blog text (12) -
Picked from entries representing practically every state of the union, they're the cream of the crop.
Synonyms
492
1.0
A person who is better than all others in a group
405
1.5
Among the top people or things in a group
218
4.5
Among the best or most skilled in a group
21
4.9
The best people or things in a group
6
3.7
The best or most wanted one in a group, like the strongest puppy
4
3.0
The person or thing that is better than all others in a group
1
8.2
A person who is among the best in a field
1
7.3
A person who is the best or most admired in a group
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase composes 'cream' (the best/top part) with 'crop' (harvest/group), so a learner who knows those constituent meanings can infer 'the best of the group'. The underlying agricultural metaphor (the best part rising to the top) is common and cross-linguistically familiar, making the expression readily comprehensible to B1 learners.
Etymology
Cream of the crop comes from a simple farm picture: when milk stands, the rich cream rises to the top, and the best part of a harvest or crop is imagined as sitting at the top too. So it means 'the very best people or things'.