cool cat
Americannoun
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a fashionable or hip person.
Being the cool cat that I was in high school, I would often stop in at the vegan store for coffee on the way home.
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a person who is easygoing, casual, and calm.
He was the most laid-back cool cat I ever met—he took everything in stride.
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an admirable or excellent person.
An ACLU lawyer, drug reformer, and generally cool cat, she is seriously considering a bid for mayor.
Etymology
Origin of cool cat
First recorded in 1920–25
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.
"I needed to know this was going somewhere if I was going to give up this really cool cat," she said.
From Salon • Feb. 13, 2023
I watched the foursome take the stage, and my eyes immediately locked on this one cool cat singing and dancing his heart out.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2022
Described as the "cool cat" in the group, he was its sax player, flutist, percussionist as well as master of ceremonies at shows.
From BBC • Aug. 8, 2021
En route to Louis Armstrong Park, McCusker, a cool cat in a straw fedora, explained the history of jazz, a musical mutt of blues, ragtime, dirges and marches.
From Washington Post • Jul. 26, 2018
But Father played the cool cat, not admitting what a miserable failure he had been so far at the Christianizing trade.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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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.