par excellence
4
8.0
- idiom
- /pɑr ɛkˈsɛləns/
- Formal
:
por excelencia
- If my father was still the dandy, he was the dandy par excellence.
- modernist par excellence
- symbol par excellence
- space par excellence
He says this is the American invention par excellence, the patchwork.
- He says this is the American invention par excellence, the patchwork.
- But let me tell you that it was a WASP male establishment par excellence in those days.
- The two classes of macromolecules that do this par excellence are the nucleic acids and the proteins.
- He was the Victorian bad boy par excellence.
- But he saw this weekend that Jesse had to rewrite a whole episode of Veep, and he did it par excellence.
- I believe Stalin was a realist par excellence and that ideology did not matter much in Stalin's foreign policy.
- Nations are par excellence international events, right?
- Their bread and chip and cookie assortment is par excellence.
Examples
-
Downton Abbey is the social experiment par excellence, answering the pressing question, "What matters most to me?"
Blog text (15) -
I believe Stalin was a realist par excellence and that ideology did not matter much in Stalin's foreign policy.
-
But the world order is a given, and Japan is a reactor par excellence.
Academic text (1991) -
Buck Williams, make-up artist par excellence.
-
The hamburger is, of course, the public food par excellence and, as such, was discussed in several papers.
Academic text (1991) -
The Church is a political factor par excellence in the Armenian Diaspora.
Academic text (1991) -
The military's principal tool in this pursuit has been the officer corps, an elite caste par excellence.
Academic text (2000) -
Today, Leta Hollingworth serves as a role model par excellence for women psychologists and educators of exceptional children.
Academic text (1990) -
Leta Hollingworth serves as a role model par excellence for women psychologists and educators.
-
Mariano Rivera is known as the closer par excellence in baseball history.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Very good and better than most similar things
257
3.4
Much better than most others in skill or quality
241
4.5
Among the best or most skilled in a group
203
4.2
Better in quality or performance than similar things
77
7.5
Very good and impressive at a skill
70
1.0
Better than all others in quality or importance
38
3.6
Of the highest quality and better than most similar things
17
8.0
The most respected and well known in a particular field
14
4.4
Very high quality and among the best
9
3.8
Very high quality and lasts a long time
9
6.2
Of very high quality and among the best in its field
8
3.7
Very good quality and better than most others
5
7.2
So good that it has no match
3
3.7
Of the highest quality, better than others like it
1
5.0
A person or thing at the highest level of quality
Very good and of high quality
Very good and the best in quality
A person who is very good at one job or skill and stands out
Antonyms
How Excellent
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'better or more outstanding than all others' cannot be straightforwardly derived from the literal constituents: 'par' (given as 'equal standing') plus 'excellence' does not yield a meaning of being supreme. 'Par excellence' is a French loanphrase used idiomatically in English, so even learners who know the component words are unlikely to infer its idiomatic intensifying meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Par excellence comes from the French words par meaning 'by' and excellence, and it paints a picture of something chosen 'by excellence', the very best example of its kind. That's why we use par excellence to say someone or something is the 'best' or most outstanding.