elite
Americannoun
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elites
plural
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(used with a plural verb) the choicest or best of anything considered collectively, especially of a group or class of people.
The elite of the contemporary art scene were all represented at the gallery.
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(used with a plural verb)
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people of the highest financial or social level of society.
Only the elite received invites to the event.
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a group of people exercising the major share of authority or influence within a larger group.
The scandal involved most members of the political party's power elite.
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a member of a group of people who have a great deal of power, influence, or social capital.
The elites don't care about ordinary people's problems.
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a type, widely used in typewriters, that is approximately 10-point in size and has 12 characters to the inch.
adjective
noun
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(sometimes functioning as plural) the most powerful, rich, gifted, or educated members of a group, community, etc
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Also called: twelve pitch. a typewriter typesize having 12 characters to the inch
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of elite
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English elit “a person elected to office,” from Middle French e(s)lit, past participle of e(s)lire “to choose”; see elect
Explanation
The elite are the group thought to be the best and having the highest status. In the middle ages, only elite men were taught to read and write. There are elite schools, elite teams, and elite players, some really the best and some just calling themselves the best. Who can join the basketball elite besides LeBron James and Michael Jordan? That's a matter of opinion. Elite is used with a singular or plural verb, depending on whether these special people are considered together as a group or as individual members of a group.
Vocabulary lists containing elite
The Outsiders
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Outliers
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Achievement First 6th Grade IA 1 Words
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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:
The performance was enough, however, to show that London City are more than capable of competing with the WSL's elite.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
The eatery opened inauspiciously in 1978, a modest, shockingly restrained space in Beverly Hills’ elite golden triangle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
A son of the elite though he was, young Morris sided with the patriots once the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Cybersecurity research firms TRM Labs blamed the theft on TraderTraitor, North Korea’s elite hacking unit, “based on robust on and off-chain intelligence.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
Along with most of the Virginia dynasty, however, his ascent into the revolutionary elite was not the exclusive function of talent and virtue.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Besides often keeping a low profile and maintaining an unremarkable wardrobe, Dangote sometimes drives himself, without the long security convoys associated with many Nigerian elites.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
Votive deposits in Scandinavian wetlands were ways for local elites to mark their status, appease the gods and demarcate territory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"Zoe proved today that she deserves to be up there racing with the elites," British rider Hayley Simmonds told BBC Sport.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
It will help us explain why in the Ramesside period, officials such as Paser chose to reuse, modify or build tombs adjacent to the monuments of the preceding 18th-dynasty elites.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
Other donors to the Christian Union are members of local elites across the Bible Belt.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
