coryphée

[kawr-uh-fey, kor-, kaw-ree-fey]

noun

plural

coryphées 

1. a member of a ballet company who dances usually as part of a small group and who ranks below the soloists.

coryphée

/ ˌkɒrɪˈfeɪ /

noun

1. a leading dancer of a corps de ballet

Word History and Origins

Origin of coryphée¹

1820–30; < French < Latin coryphaeus coryphaeus

Word History and Origins

Origin of coryphée¹

C19: from French, from Latin coryphaeus _coryphaeus

Example Sentences

In his boyhood he was sent to the Jesuit school of Louis le Grand, where the perversity of his character manifested itself to such an extent that one of his teachers prophesied that he would one day become the coryphee of deism.

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So it happens that not long after Mrs. Webb Johnston has summoned a few select spirits to sup and witness Miss Almira Wing, a visiting coryphée, do a skirt dance, Mrs. Sherman issues notes of invitation to what is mysteriously specified as 'An Eclipse Smoke Talk.'

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She is now, I am told, a coryphee in one of the public dancing halls.

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Country-bred as she was, she waltzed like a coryphée.

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It would fill the tent in old Noo York, but it’s n. g. in this here country, where everybody’s either a coryphee or a clown or a pantaloon!

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Related Words

• dancer