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elite - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A group or class of persons considered to be superior to others because of their intelligence, social standing, or wealth.
- noun A member of such a group.
- noun The best or most skilled members of a group.
- noun A size of type on a typewriter, equal to 12 characters per linear inch.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of
high birth orsocial position ;aristocratic orpatrician . - adjective Representing the choicest or most select of a group.
- noun A
special group orsocial class ofpeople which have asuperior intellectual , social oreconomic status as, the elite of society. - noun
Someone who isamong thebest atcertain task .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[French élite, from Old French eslite, from feminine past participle of eslire, to choose, from Latin ēligere; see elect.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Old French elit, eslit ("chosen, elected") past participle of elire, eslire ("to choose, elect"), from Latin eligere ("to choose, elect"); see elect.
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Examples
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There was a time, a dozen years ago, the term elite was carried with them quite a bit.
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But the term elite has not yet been plasticized into the absurd, and it still retains a certain connotation that can change depending on what we use it to modify.
Bookslut 2009
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I think the term elite is used in that sense to contrast these cultural elites with, again, business elites who at least had to you know, they had to make money.
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I think the term elite is used in that sense to contrast these cultural elites with, again, business elites who at least had to you know, they had to make money.
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He resumed his criticism of the US media, a line popular with Republican audiences, and what he called the elite in New York and Washington.
Newt Gingrich ruins Romney's night with decisive victory in South Carolina 2012
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Just like in Mexico, where the elite is almost all white.
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Nelson Ramodike, and what he described as his elite group, were of more importance to the ANC than the suffering of ordinary people.
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Mr Little acknowledged that Eton had a reputation for elitism but insisted that "what we need to do is reclaim the word elite".
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2011
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Look around you, these people kwhitegocubs 4 minutes ago 10:34 PM Somebody decided to comment without reading the commentary , looking at statistics, evaluating our real-world income and wealth inequality , and having any idea what the word "elite" means.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Howard Schweber 2011
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He resumed his criticism of the US media, a line popular with Republican audiences, and what he called the elite in New York and Washington.
The Guardian World News Ewen MacAskill 2012
Related Words
synonyms (133)
Words with the same meaning
- FFVs
- Vanity Fair
- ancienne noblesse
- aristocracy
- baronage
- baronetage
- barons
- beau monde
- beautiful people
- best
- best people
- bunch
- cabal
- cadre
- cafe society
- cafe-society
- camarilla
- carriage trade
- cell
- champion
- charmed circle
- chivalry
- choice
- chosen
- chosen people
- circle
- clan
- clique
- closed circle
- coterie
- cream
- cream of society
- crew
- crowd
- drawing room
- elect
- elite group
- establishment
- fashionable society
- fat
- flower
- for the best
- good society
- greatest
- group
- handpicked
- haut monde
- high life
- high society
- high-society
- hoi polloi
- in society
- in-crowd
- ingroup
- inner circle
- jet set
- jet-set
- jeunesse doree
- junta
- junto
- knightage
- lace-curtain
- lords of creation
- matchless
- mob
- monde
- nobility
- noblesse
- noblesse de robe
- nonesuch
- nonpareil
- old nobility
- optimal
- optimum
- outfit
- overlapping
- paragon
- paramount
- peerage
- peerless
- people of fashion
- pick
- picked
- pink
- polite society
- power elite
- power structure
- pride
- prime
- prize
- queen
- quintessence
- quintessential
- right people
- ring
- royalty
- ruling circles
- ruling class
- salon
- select
- set
- silk-stocking
- smart set
- social register
- socially prominent
- societe
- society
- superlative
- supreme
- surpassing
- the Four Hundred
- the best
- the best ever
- the best people
- the brass
- the classes
- the tops
- the very best
- top
- top people
- unmatchable
- unmatched
- unparalleled
- unsurpassed
- upper class
- upper classes
- upper crust
- upper ten
- upper ten thousand
- uppercut
- very best
- we-group
- world of fashion
rhymes (79)
Words with the same terminal sound
- Crete
- Deet
- Delete
- Fleet
- Grete
- Marguerite
- Pete
- Piet
- Seat
- Skeat
- Sweet
- amit
- backseat
- beat
- beet
- cheat
- cleat
- compete
- complete
- conceit
- concrete
- deceit
- deet
- defeat
- delete
- deplete
- discreet
- discrete
- downbeat
- eat
- effete
- excrete
- feat
- feet
- fleet
- freet
- gamete
- greet
- heat
- incomplete
- indiscreet
- leet
- leite
- marguerite
- meat
- meet
- mete
- mistreat
- neat
- neet
- noncompete
- obsolete
- offbeat
- peat
- peet
- petite
- piet
- pleat
- receipt
- repeat
- replete
- retreat
- seat
- secrete
- sheet
- skeet
- sleet
- st
- street
- suite
- sweet
- swete
- teat
- teet
- treat
- tweet
- uncomplete
- unseat
- wheat
rolig commented on the word elite
"We could, following her Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's strenuously folksy debate performance, wonder when elite became a bad thing in America. Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite? Can likable still trump knowledgeable at such a vulnerable crossroads for the country?"
– Maureen Dowd, "Sarah's Pompom Palaver", New York Times, 4 Oct 2008
October 6, 2008