cachet

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noun ca·chet \ ka-ˈshā \

Definition of cachet

1 a :a seal used especially as a mark of official approval

b :an indication of approval carrying great prestige

The president placed his cachet on the project.

2 a :a characteristic feature or quality conferring prestige

regarded the possession of real estate as a cachet of respectability

b :prestige

being rich … doesn't have the cachet it used to
—Truman Capote

3 :a medicinal preparation for swallowing consisting of a case usually of rice-flour paste enclosing a medicine

4 a :a design or inscription on an envelope to commemorate a postal or philatelic event

b :an advertisement forming part of a postage meter impression

c :a motto or slogan included in a postal cancellation (see cancellation 3)

See cachet defined for English-language learners

cachet was our Word of the Day on 02/17/2017. Hear the podcast!

Examples of cachet in a Sentence

a movie director with great artistic cachet
His research in Antarctica gave him a certain cachet among other scientists.

Recent Examples of cachet from the Web

Ruling ANC proposes that Reserve Bank be wholly state-owned Private ownership became a stick to hit central bank with In South Africa, membership of the quirkiest club in global central banking just lost some of its cachet.

— arabile gumede, Bloomberg.com, "South Africa's 1920s Central Bank Quirk Targeted in Push by ANC," 5 July 2017
Shaq, Jordan, Peyton—tend to be wealthy to the point of abstraction and/or have enough cachet to slide into career 2.0.

— jon wertheim, SI.com, "The after-party: Inside the life of the modern professional athlete in retirement," 3 July 2017
Finally, there is the cachet of associating your region with Bezos, who likely will become the world's richest person within a year or two.

— eric berger, Ars Technica, "Why is Jeff Bezos building rocket engines in Alabama? He’s playing to win," 28 June 2017
Despite his serious cachet of college accolades, Hart is not a consensus first-round pick in an upcoming draft where the first 10 players selected very well might be be college freshmen.

— jeremy woo, SI.com, "NBA Draft 2017: The Reinvention of Josh Hart," 21 June 2017
A big challenge has been that the cachet of club membership is no longer enough to entice people to join, and few employers pay membership dues, as was standard in the club heyday.

— alexia elejalde-ruiz, chicagotribune.com, "Social clubs wooing young members make updates and even — gasp — allow denim," 16 June 2017
There was even more reason to bring him back after the arrival of Magic Johnson, who has enough cachet but no front office experience (oh yeah, and GM Rob Pelinka, a player agent with no more experience).

— mark heisler, Orange County Register, "Heisler: Jerry West and the Clippers bring it all back home, almost," 15 June 2017
The flap over size raises a question: Will Phoenix ever have the cachet of cities such as Philadelphia, Seattle or San Francisco — or is that even our goal?

— brenna goth, azcentral, "Phoenix is the nation's 5th largest — but is it a 'real' city?," 11 June 2017
Meanwhile, the Watergate, for all its vintage cachet, still seems to capture the imagination of the people who remember it the first time around.

— kenzie bryant, Vanities, "The Watergate Hotel Adapts to a New Age of D.C. Scandal," 8 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cachet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of cachet

French, from cacher

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1639

See Words from the same year

Other Heraldry Terms

blazon, couchant, dormant, escutcheon, potent, standard, totem

Medical Dictionary

cachet

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noun ca·chet \ ka-ˈshā \

medical Definition of cachet

:a medicinal preparation for swallowing consisting of a case usually of rice-flour paste containing an unpleasant-tasting medicine — called also wafer, wafer capsule