as in expert
a person with a high level of knowledge or skill in a field
a movie director who was widely regarded as the past master of suspense
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Recent Examples of past master
There is a certainty to her sentences that sets her alongside past masters (your William Trevors, your Anton Chekhovs) and a singular beauty to her observations.
—
Tomi Obaro, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024
Coppola, a past master at directing actors, allows his performers – who include Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Aubrey Plaza, and Nathalie Emmanuel – to shamelessly ham it up.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Sep. 2024
And he is positioned as the chief foreign luminary at the festival’s anniversary tribute to past master Ozu Yasujiro.
—Mark Schilling, Variety, 23 Oct. 2023
The fact that the company is designing a standalone robotaxi speaks to its failures in executing past master plans.
—Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 28 Feb. 2023
Does this past master of starting crazes see the Reddit phenomenon as a long-overdue democratization of the stock market, or a frenzy detached from the fundamentals of investing?
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2021
Wonder, a past master of love songs, makes a demand that tests the output of every contemporary pop singer and every jaded fan.
—Armond White, National Review, 25 Nov. 2020
The locked-room mystery—not just a whodunnit but a how-done-it—pays homage to past masters such as John Dickson Carr and Gaston Leroux.
—The Economist, 18 Dec. 2019
When the ensemble made its first national tour, playing Orchestra Hall in September 1992, Marsalis and friends were trying to show that America needed a world-class jazz orchestra that could honor past masters while forging future ones.
—Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 16 Nov. 2019
Tomi Obaro, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024
Coppola, a past master at directing actors, allows his performers – who include Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Aubrey Plaza, and Nathalie Emmanuel – to shamelessly ham it up.
—Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Sep. 2024
And he is positioned as the chief foreign luminary at the festival’s anniversary tribute to past master Ozu Yasujiro.
—Mark Schilling, Variety, 23 Oct. 2023
The fact that the company is designing a standalone robotaxi speaks to its failures in executing past master plans.
—Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 28 Feb. 2023
Does this past master of starting crazes see the Reddit phenomenon as a long-overdue democratization of the stock market, or a frenzy detached from the fundamentals of investing?
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2021
Wonder, a past master of love songs, makes a demand that tests the output of every contemporary pop singer and every jaded fan.
—Armond White, National Review, 25 Nov. 2020
The locked-room mystery—not just a whodunnit but a how-done-it—pays homage to past masters such as John Dickson Carr and Gaston Leroux.
—The Economist, 18 Dec. 2019
When the ensemble made its first national tour, playing Orchestra Hall in September 1992, Marsalis and friends were trying to show that America needed a world-class jazz orchestra that could honor past masters while forging future ones.
—Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 16 Nov. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for past master
Noun
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Earlier this week, OpenAI announced a council of eight experts who will advise the company and provide insight into how AI affects users’ mental health, emotions and motivation.—
Ashley Capoot,
CNBC,
17 Oct. 2025
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This is done in an effort to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses and decimate civilian morale, experts have said.—
Catherine Nicholls,
CNN Money,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Amber has since earned her master's in social work from Louisiana State University (LSU), per the family's Instagram.—
Emily Weaver,
PEOPLE,
15 Oct. 2025
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Zarco trained Abdiel Iván Batista, a master jungle rescue instructor who is the director of the Chagres Survival School, CEO of the Safe Jungles Foundation and member of the Panamanian Red Cross First Aid Corps.—
Kit Bernardi,
USA Today,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Most legal scholars interpret this to mean that the President’s duty is to spend the money Congress appropriates, and that the President does not have the power to withhold funds.—
Andy Kroll,
New Yorker,
17 Oct. 2025
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Harvard’s Erica Chenoweth, director of the Non-Violent Action Lab and one of the world’s leading scholars of protest movements, has shown that peaceful resistance is twice as likely to succeed as violent resistance.—
Nancy Gibbs,
Time,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Then again, even the fictional boarding school for witches and wizards in the Harry Potter series did not have a production line like Barcelona’s academy.—
Laia Cervelló Herrero,
New York Times,
11 Oct. 2025
-
They’re not confronted with wizards.—
Sara Merican,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
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An effective trustee is skilled in conflict resolution and adept at maintaining open communication while prioritizing the trust’s objectives.—
Royce Ramey,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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Slot shares this staple of Tottenham counterpart Ange Postecoglou’s attacking principles, with Porro adept at tucking inside to disrupt the opposition shape.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Palamides, as a physical-comedy virtuoso, loves mess—there’s a splash zone near the front, with audience members wearing plastic ponchos.—
Helen Shaw,
New Yorker,
17 Oct. 2025
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D’Angelo was raised in a deeply religious Pentecostal family and got his musical start in the church, becoming a virtuoso at several instruments.—
Andrew R. Chow,
Time,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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India Jane Birley is an artist, while Jemima Goldsmith, known professionally as Jemima Khan, founded Instinct Productions, which specializes in television, documentaries and film production.—
Samantha Conti,
Footwear News,
18 Oct. 2025
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In my new thriller The Gallery Assistant, a female artist slated to be shown by the gallery where my protagonist, Chloe, works, is found murdered in her loft the morning after a party.—
Kate Belli,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The guru was in prison and refused to leave prison without the other 52 political prisoners being released.—
Jenna Prestininzi,
Freep.com,
15 Oct. 2025
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In Jodie Foster’s satire-cum-thriller, George Clooney plays a Jim Cramer-ish TV finance guru whose bullish promotion of one stock has led desperate prole Jack O’Connell to lose his life savings, leading to a hostage standoff in the TV studio.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Past master.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/past%20master. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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