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coryphée

American  
[kawr-uh-fey, kor-, kaw-ree-fey] / ˌkɔr əˈfeɪ, ˌkɒr-, kɔ riˈfeɪ /

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 British  
/ ˌkɒrɪˈfeɪ /

noun

  1. a leading dancer of a corps de ballet

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of coryphée

1820–30; < French < Latin coryphaeus coryphaeus

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.

A coryphée, pretty and loyal,In amber and redThe ballet she led;Her mother performed at the Royal,LENORE at the Saracen’s Head.

From The Bab Ballads by Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), Sir

From adventuress to evangelist; coryphée, courtesan, and convert, each in turn.

From The Magnificent Montez From Courtesan to Convert by Wyndham, Horace

He suddenly abandoned college, and went off, it was said, with a coryphée.

From Gordon Keith by Page, Thomas Nelson

He gives all his devotions to Nina Beaubien, who dances like a coryphée, and drops her when Alice Renwick comes with her glowing Spanish beauty.

From From the Ranks by King, Charles

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

From The Child Wife by Reid, Mayne

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.