par excellence

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French par excellence (“by excellence”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɑɹ ɛksəˈlɑns/

Adjective

par excellence (not comparable)

1. Being the best of its kind.
2. Being a quintessential example of the kind in question.
   • 2009, Stanley Lombardo, Inferno^[1], page 176:

     [in footnote 71] The Roman Senate conferred the honorific title of Augustus (the imperial title par excellence) upon Octavian in 27 BCE.

Usage notes

• Usually used attributively after the noun it modifies.

Translations

being quintessential example of one's kind

• Finnish: loistava (fi), par excellence (fi)

• German: par excellence (de)

Quotations

• 2009, John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion:

  He was par excellence a theologian

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /paʁ ɛk.sɛ.lɑ̃s/

Adverb

par excellence

1. by or in virtue of excellence