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Synonyms

coryphée

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

noun

coryphées plural
  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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

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.

See Examples For:

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

A coryphée, pretty and loyal, In amber and red, The ballet she led; Her mother performed at the Royal, Lenore at the Saracen's Head.

From The Book of Humorous Verse by Wells, Carolyn

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

From Gordon Keith by Page, Thomas Nelson

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

From The Child Wife by Reid, Mayne

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

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

But the coryphées that had danced there were migrating.

From The Perfume of Eros: A Fifth Avenue Incident by Saltus, Edgar

But these modern coryphées of Rieka and Dalmatia are so forgetful.

From The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 1 by Baerlein, Henry

There are twelve coryphées who earn from $25 to $30 per week. 

From Lights and Shadows of New York Life or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City by McCabe, James Dabney

Who has not sympathized in the joy of Madame de Sevigné, at seeing her fair daughter exhibit among the coryphées!

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 341, March, 1844 by Various

Finally, preceded by clouds of gas, the Arch-Comedian in person, supported by spectacled coryphées in brass hats!

From All in It : K(1) Carries On A Continuation of the First Hundred Thousand by Hay, Ian

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