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:
A surfer and physical fitness buff, Brambles rose through the ranks quickly, eventually becoming a supervisor in the elite Organized Crime Intelligence Division.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Just over half pay the full sticker price, which can be over $100,000 at elite four-year institutions.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
He ran the army's elite Fourth Division and also fled to Moscow when the regime fell.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The court also sentenced six former military and security officials in absentia to death including Assad's brother Maher, who ran the army's elite Fourth Division and also fled the country.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
And when I looked into it a little more, I realized that most of the girls in the elite gymnastics world were already being home-schooled.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
Its carefully planned streets and advanced brick drainage systems indicate that resources were directed toward shared infrastructure rather than monuments celebrating rulers or religious elites.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026
She already has a ticket to the game, but she’s sitting too far from the elite of the elites, and definitely too far from the president.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
It was a story we Mexicans know too well — we’re talented, just not yet at the level of the elites of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Caruana Galizia had exposed corruption at the highest level in the country, shining a spotlight on murky links between Malta's business and political elites.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Having established some common ground, Adams then veered off in a direction that had always gotten him into political trouble—namely, the inevitable role that elites play in making history happen.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
