boutique

[boo-teek]

noun

1. a small shop or a small specialty department within a larger store, especially one that sells fashionable clothes and accessories or a special selection of other merchandise.

2. any small, exclusive business offering customized service.

   Our advertising is handled by a new Madison Avenue boutique.

3. Informal.,  a small business, department, etc., specializing in one aspect of a larger industry.

   one of Wall Street's leading research boutiques.

adjective

1. of, designating, or characteristic of a small, exclusive producer or business.

   one of California's best boutique wineries.

boutique

/ buːˈtiːk /

noun

1. a shop, esp a small one selling fashionable clothes and other items

2. 1. of or denoting a small specialized producer or business

   2. ( as modifier )

      a boutique winery

3. a small specialized stall or shopping area within a supermarket, esp selling fresh meat, seafood, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of boutique¹

1760–70; < French, Middle French, probably < Old Provençal botica, botiga (with Late Greek ē > ī ) < Greek apothḗkē; apothecary, bottega

Word History and Origins

Origin of boutique¹

C18: from French, probably from Old Provençal botica , ultimately from Greek apothēkē storehouse; see _apothecary

Example Sentences

If AI-enabled longevity arrives as a boutique service while many still struggle to see a clinician or afford medications, we will have built a high-tech ladder on a crumbling foundation.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Tourists see abundance — the beach houses, the boutiques, the seafood shacks — but the year-round population lives in an entirely different economy.

Read more on Salon

The movie also helped transform California wine country into more of a tourist destination, with boutiques and fancy hotels springing up in Napa Valley, and signs advertising tastings along Sonoma’s twisty roads.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Then up, up, and up, past the markets, clothing boutiques, fix-it shops, the swirling schools of motor scooters and all those purple jacaranda trees, starting their seasonal bloom.

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Smaller boutiques often recruit by promising to let bankers keep more of the revenue they land, compared with so-called bulge-bracket banks like Bank of America and its peers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• booth 
• store