"crème de la crème" meaning in English

See crème de la crème in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-us-crème de la crème.ogg [US], en-uk-creme de la creme.ogg [UK]
Etymology: Borrowed from French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|fr|crème de la crème|lit=cream of the cream}} French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”) Head templates: {{en-noun|-|nolinkhead=1}} crème de la crème (uncountable)
  1. (idiomatic, singular only) Best of the best; something superlative; the very best. Tags: idiomatic, singular, singular-only, uncountable Synonyms: cream of the crop, best of the best, pick of the crop, creme de la creme Translations (best of the best): creme de la creme [common-gender] (Danish), crème de la crème (Dutch), kerma (Finnish), parhaimmisto (Finnish), crème de la crème [feminine] (French), top du top [masculine] (French), fin du fin [masculine] (French), fine fleur [feminine] (French), nec plus ultra [masculine] (French), Crème de la Crème [feminine] (German), crème de la crème (Norwegian), kremen av kremen (Norwegian), der oppe (Norwegian), śmietanka [feminine] (Polish), nata da sociedade [feminine] (Portuguese), lo mejor de lo mejor (Spanish), flor y nata (Spanish), gräddan (note: only in definite form) (Swedish)

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for crème de la crème meaning in English (4.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "crème de la crème",
        "lit": "cream of the cream"
      },
      "expansion": "French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”).",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "-",
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      "expansion": "crème de la crème (uncountable)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "To be an astronaut you must be the crème de la crème.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, page 14",
          "text": "‘Plainly,’ said Miss Brodie, ‘you were not listening to me. If only you small girls would listen to me I would make of you the crème de la crème.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Best of the best; something superlative; the very best."
      ],
      "id": "en-crème_de_la_crème-en-noun-kEDxU57S",
      "links": [
        [
          "superlative",
          "superlative"
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        [
          "very",
          "very"
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        [
          "best",
          "best"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, singular only) Best of the best; something superlative; the very best."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "cream of the crop"
        },
        {
          "word": "best of the best"
        },
        {
          "word": "pick of the crop"
        },
        {
          "word": "creme de la creme"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "singular",
        "singular-only",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "creme de la creme"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "crème de la crème"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "kerma"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "parhaimmisto"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "crème de la crème"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "top du top"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "fin du fin"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "fine fleur"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "nec plus ultra"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Crème de la Crème"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "crème de la crème"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "kremen av kremen"
        },
        {
          "code": "no",
          "lang": "Norwegian",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "der oppe"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "śmietanka"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "nata da sociedade"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "lo mejor de lo mejor"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "flor y nata"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "note": "only in definite form",
          "sense": "best of the best",
          "word": "gräddan"
        }
      ]
    }
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  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-us-crème de la crème.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/84/En-us-cr%C3%A8me_de_la_cr%C3%A8me.ogg/En-us-cr%C3%A8me_de_la_cr%C3%A8me.ogg.mp3",
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    },
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      "tags": [
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    }
  ],
  "word": "crème de la crème"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "crème de la crème",
        "lit": "cream of the cream"
      },
      "expansion": "French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French crème de la crème (literally “cream of the cream”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "nolinkhead": "1"
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      "expansion": "crème de la crème (uncountable)",
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English singularia tantum",
        "English terms borrowed from French",
        "English terms derived from French",
        "English terms spelled with È",
        "English terms spelled with ◌̀",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "To be an astronaut you must be the crème de la crème.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, page 14",
          "text": "‘Plainly,’ said Miss Brodie, ‘you were not listening to me. If only you small girls would listen to me I would make of you the crème de la crème.’",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Best of the best; something superlative; the very best."
      ],
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          "very"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, singular only) Best of the best; something superlative; the very best."
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "singular-only",
        "uncountable"
      ]
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/En-uk-creme_de_la_creme.ogg",
      "tags": [
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    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "cream of the crop"
    },
    {
      "word": "best of the best"
    },
    {
      "word": "pick of the crop"
    },
    {
      "word": "creme de la creme"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "creme de la creme"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "crème de la crème"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "kerma"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "parhaimmisto"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "crème de la crème"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "top du top"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "fin du fin"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "fine fleur"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "nec plus ultra"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Crème de la Crème"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "crème de la crème"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "kremen av kremen"
    },
    {
      "code": "no",
      "lang": "Norwegian",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "der oppe"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "śmietanka"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "nata da sociedade"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "lo mejor de lo mejor"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "flor y nata"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "note": "only in definite form",
      "sense": "best of the best",
      "word": "gräddan"
    }
  ],
  "word": "crème de la crème"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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