par excellence

adjective

: being the best of a kind : preeminent
a chef par excellence

Examples of par excellence in a Sentence

sophisticated cuisine that is obviously the work of a chef par excellence
Recent Examples on the Web Lloyd Bentsen was the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate par excellence in 1988. Jeremy Lott, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 9 Aug. 2024 Just look at Italy: after the premiership of Mario Draghi, the technocrat par excellence, the country elected its most far-right government since Benito Mussolini. Christian Edwards, CNN, 8 July 2024 Crawford is an inveterate collector, a hunter-gatherer par excellence, and her home is a testament to decades spent amassing oddities and objets de vertu of every stripe. Mayer Rus, Architectural Digest, 28 June 2024 Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made, and if so, who gets to do the making? Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 1 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for par excellence 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'par excellence.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

French, literally, by excellence

First Known Use

1695, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of par excellence was in 1695

Dictionary Entries Near par excellence

Cite this Entry

“Par excellence.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/par%20excellence. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

par excellence

adverb or adjective
par ex·​cel·​lence ˌpär-ˌek-sə-ˈläns How to pronounce par excellence (audio)
: in the highest degree : above all others
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