métier
Americannoun
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a field of work; occupation, trade, or profession.
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a field of work or other activity in which one has special ability or training; forte.
noun
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a profession or trade, esp that to which one is well suited
-
a person's strong point or speciality
Etymology
Origin of métier
1785–95; < French; Old French mestier < Gallo-Romance *misterium, for Latin ministerium ministry
Explanation
If toasting bread is the limit of your culinary skills, then being a chef is probably not your métier. A métier, in other words, is a job to which you are particularly well suited by your skills. Your métier can also be a particularly outstanding talent or strong point in general. If you're a chef, your divine steak frites might be your métier. If you're a mechanic, your ability to understand transmissions may be your métier. Often used interchangeably with forte, meaning "strong point." As the accent over the "e" in métier implies, it's originally from the French, because the French, darn them, are good at so many things. Particularly steak frites.
Vocabulary lists containing metier
Can I Work It? Words for "Job"
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English Words Derived from French, List 11
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Murder on the Orient Express
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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.
Tom Metier, whose home was spared, zipped through the mobile home park in a golf cart, giving bad news to some of the neighbors who called him.
From Washington Times • Dec. 9, 2017
In 2008 he led Universal Music’s investment in Le Metier de Beaute, a cosmetics line that’s carried in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman and other retailers.
From BusinessWeek • Mar. 5, 2011
The basis of the elastic defense-in-depth which was France's last hope last week was laid down in de Gaulle's Vers I'Annee de Metier.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
