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• supreme
  supreme

  adjective

  highest in rank or authority; paramount; sovereign; chief.
• suprême
  suprême

  noun

  a velouté made with a rich chicken stock.

supreme

¹ American  

[suh-preem, soo-] / səˈprim, sʊ- /

adjective

1. highest in rank or authority; paramount; sovereign; chief.

2. of the highest quality, degree, character, importance, etc..

   supreme courage.

3. greatest, utmost, or extreme.

   supreme disgust.

4. last or final; ultimate.

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suprême ² American  

[suh-preem, -praym, soo-, sy-prem] / səˈprim, -ˈpreɪm, sʊ-, süˈprɛm /

noun

1. Also called sauce suprême. a velouté made with a rich chicken stock.

2. Also called suprême de volaille. a dish prepared or served with this sauce, especially boned chicken breast.

3. Also supreme

   1. a bowl or the like designed for the serving of cold foods in an inner container that is nestled in cracked ice.

   2. a dessert or appetizer served in such a container.

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supreme ¹ British  

/ sʊˈpriːm, sjʊ- /

adjective

1. of highest status or power

   a supreme tribunal

2. (usually prenominal) of highest quality, importance, etc

   supreme endeavour

3. greatest in degree; extreme

   supreme folly

4. (prenominal) final or last, esp being last in one's life or progress; ultimate

   the supreme judgment

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suprême ² British  

/ sʊˈpriːm, sjʊ-, -ˈprɛm /

noun

1. Also called: suprême sauce. a rich velouté sauce made with a base of veal or chicken stock, with cream or egg yolks added

2. the best or most delicate part of meat, esp the breast and wing of chicken, cooked in suprême sauce

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Other Word Forms

• supremeness
  noun
• supremely
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of supreme¹

First recorded in 1510–20; from Latin suprēmus “uppermost,” superlative of superus “upper,” adjective derivative of super ( see super-)

Origin of suprême²

First recorded in 1830–40; from French, from Latin suprēmus supreme

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Explanation

If you are the greatest, the most powerful, and the highest, you are supreme. The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. A supreme being is a god or other higher power. A supreme leader is an all-powerful ruler. Sometimes, when everyone else is driving you crazy, you might daydream about being the supreme leader of your school, office, or maybe the entire country, so you could tell everyone else what to do. Or you might just order a supreme pizza, which usually has every imaginable topping on it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

supreme suprême

To the outside world, it’s not even clear that Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, is alive.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying it’s time for a deal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

He was initially sentenced by a Geneva court in 2014 to life in prison, but in 2017, the Swiss supreme court ordered a retrial over what it deemed was the use of faulty evidence.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

Although Anderson is in his mid-40s, he has remained in supreme form in a struggling team.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

He had served as supreme commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces during World War II and had witnessed firsthand the destruction of Europe.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

He began to whisking up a variation on sauce suprême that would incorporate sherry vinegar and mustard made with grape must.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2020

But it is also threadbare elegant with its hint of sherry, and you could call the gravy a French sauce suprême if you liked.

From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2017

The suprême sauce used in that case is generally made with very rich chicken gravy.

From Hand-Book of Practical Cookery for Ladies and Professional Cooks by Pierre Blot

This amounted to a bouleversement suprême of the usual order of things, and it was no wonder that there was disquietude among his hearers.

From White Ashes by Sidney R. (Sidney Robinson) Kennedy

We recognize the justice of a description of the Parthenon as ‘le suprême effort du génie à la poursuite du beau’; but the layman must sometimes ask himself what does it mean?

From The Legacy of Greece Essays By: Gilbert Murray, W. R. Inge, J. Burnet, Sir T. L. Heath, D'arcy W. Thompson, Charles Singer, R. W. Livingston, A. Toynbee, A. E. Zimmern, Percy Gardner, Sir Reginald Blomfield by R.W. Livingstone

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