entrée

or en·tree

[ahn-trey]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR entrée ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a dish served as the main course of a meal.

Older Use. a dish served at dinner between the principal courses.

the privilege of entering; access.

a means of obtaining entry: His friendship with an actor's son was his entrée into the theatrical world.

the act of entering; entrance.

Origin of entrée

1775–85; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of entrer to enter; see entry

Synonyms for entrée

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR entrée ON THESAURUS.COM

3, 4. admission, entry.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for entree

admission, entrance, debut, door, incoming, introduction, in, adit, ingress, access, connection, contact, way, entry, induction, importation

Examples from the Web for entree

Contemporary Examples of entree

“He had an entree, and I feel that he was very much embraced by the people that he took pictures of,” Marin Hopper says.
Dennis Hopper’s ‘Lost Album’ Displayed in Original Form at Gagosian New York
Isabel Wilkinson
May 12, 2013
Instead of slaving over the sauce just before dinner, you can chat with your guests, or concentrate on the entree.
The 2012 Holiday Kitchen Gift Guide
Megan McArdle
December 13, 2012
Her salary would have given her entree to the board of any cultural institution she eyed, but she didn't seem to be interested.
Ina Drew, the Woman Who Backed JPMorgan’s Bad Bet
Nancy Hass
May 18, 2012
Ironically, this coincides with feeling jaded about said entree.
The Stars Predict Your Week
Starsky + Cox
August 13, 2011

Historical Examples of entree

There were frequently from ten to twelve persons at this first entree.
Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France, Complete
Madame Campan
I have already the entree to the place you desire to get into, and I can introduce you.
In Direst Peril
David Christie Murray
Did I understand you to say that you have the—the entree at Knightsbridge House?
The Christmas Books
William Makepeace Thackeray
You shall have them the day after the king's entree into Vaux.
The Man in the Iron Mask
Alexandre Dumas, Pere
My entree occasioned no little confusion, but I knew well how to remedy that.
Pelham, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for entree

entrée

noun

a dish served before a main course

mainly US the main course of a meal

the power or right of entry

Word Origin for entrée

C18: from French, from entrer to enter; in cookery, so called because formerly the course was served after an intermediate course called the relevé (remove)

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

Word Origin and History for entree

1724, "opening piece of an opera or ballet," from French entrée, from Old French entree (see entry). Cookery sense is from 1759; originally the dish which was introductory to the main course. The word had been borrowed in Middle English as entre "act of entering."