highflier

noun

high·​fli·​er ˈhī-ˈflī(-ə)r How to pronounce highflier (audio)
variants or highflyer
1
: a stock whose price rises much more rapidly than the market average
2
: a company whose stock is a highflier
3
: an ambitiously competitive person with high aspirations

Examples of highflier in a Sentence

one of New York's largest law firms, it attracts highfliers looking for a big-time legal career
Recent Examples on the Web Peloton had been a highflier during the pandemic, when lockdowns sent customers scrambling to buy its stationary bikes and attend classes. Maria Halkias and Alexandra Skores, Dallas News, 8 Feb. 2022 Sam Bankman-Fried is the latest highflier to learn that lesson. Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 16 Dec. 2022 The deal, the exact dollar figure of which remained unclear, represents quite a comedown for the one-time highflier. Amy Feldman, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2021 At first look, Biogen seems more like a plodding drugmaker than a pending highflier: The neurology specialist boasts a market cap of about $46 billion. Charley Grant, WSJ, 26 Aug. 2020 The bankruptcy follows that of another highflier in the U.S. oil patch, Whiting Petroleum Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 at the start of April after championing what was once the premiere U.S. shale field, the Bakken of North Dakota. David Wethe, Fortune, 29 June 2020 The Federal Reserve lent trillions of dollars to bail out Wall Street highfliers, hoping that by stabilizing big banks, the benefits would flow through to the rest of the economy. Sheila Bair For Cnn Business Perspectives, CNN, 27 Mar. 2020 Traders have turned to derivatives to bet on the continued rise of some tech highfliers, wagering that there are even bigger gains ahead for the group. Gunjan Banerji, WSJ, 20 Feb. 2020 O’Neal continued, referring to the legendary former Nets and Philadelphia 76ers highflier Julius Erving. Marc Stein, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2020

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

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1961, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of highflier was circa 1961

Dictionary Entries Near highflier

Cite this Entry

“Highflier.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/highflier. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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