tour de force

American  

[toor duh fawrs, -fohrs, toor duh fawrs] / ˌtʊər də ˈfɔrs, -ˈfoʊrs, tur də ˈfɔrs /

noun

tours de force plural

1. an exceptional achievement by an artist, author, or the like, that is unlikely to be equaled by that person or anyone else; stroke of genius.

   Herman Melville's Moby Dick was a tour de force.

2. a particularly adroit maneuver or technique in handling a difficult situation.

   The way the president got his bill through the Senate was a tour de force.

3. a feat requiring unusual strength, skill, or ingenuity.

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tour de force British  

/ ˈtʊə də ˈfɔːs, tur də fɔrs /

noun

1. a masterly or brilliant stroke, creation, effect, or accomplishment

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tour de force Cultural  

1. A feat accomplished through great skill and ability: “The speech was a tour de force; it swept the audience off its feet.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tours de force
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tour de force

1795–1805; < French: feat of strength or skill

Example Sentences

The show, which justly received the Tony for best musical revival contained perhaps the season’s most seismic tour de force.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

The victory over the three-time Champions League winners, who are sitting pretty atop Serie A, continued Bodo's surprise tour de force in the competition.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

But it was a tour de force from the NFL’s No. 1 destroyers of offense.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

David Galperin, head of contemporary art at Sotheby's New York, called it Cattelan's "tour de force".

From BBC • Nov. 19, 2025

Lincoln’s speech was a political as well as a literary tour de force, and what was really clever about it—not to mention cheeky—was that he used it, in effect, to game the Constitution.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith