pièce de résistance
Americannoun
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the principal dish of a meal.
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the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event, article, etc., of a series or group; special item or attraction.
noun
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the principal or most outstanding item in a series or creative artist's work
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the main dish of a meal
Etymology
Origin of pièce de résistance
First recorded in 1780–90; from French: literally, “piece of resistance”; development of senses is unclear
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But its pièce de résistance for Roffman was Caselotti herself, who was home that afternoon and happy to entertain strangers with her cherubic singsong cadence.
From Salon • Mar. 29, 2025
If you want to buy a Birkin bag, the pièce de résistance from the French luxury retailer Hermès, you should know that you probably can’t.
From New York Times • Mar. 21, 2024
Young’s Lutiebelle confrontation with Sanders’ Cotchipee is the production’s pièce de résistance.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2023
I can’t remember what inspired me to choose caramel as the pièce de résistance, but I am so glad that’s where we landed.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 1, 2023
These are all excellent seasonings of novelry; but they are not the root of the matter, the pièce de résistance of the feast.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
