first-rate
Americanadjective
-
excellent; superb.
-
of the highest rank, rate, or class.
adverb
adjective
-
of the best or highest rated class or quality
-
informal very good; excellent
adverb
Etymology
Origin of first-rate
First recorded in 1660–70
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.
“And it is. But it’s going to be first-rate Schrader soon enough. And it’s already first-rate ‘NCIS.’
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
Curious, I whipped up a batch and used it as a dipping sauce for a slice of her first-rate pepperoni pizza.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Lockhart explores themes of mental illness, conspiracy theories and trauma with intelligence and compassion, and his writing is first-rate.
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026
Mr. Sewell is first-rate on the development of Dulles’s foreign-policy philosophy and shows him to be a far more subtle thinker than is often understood.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Pausing to turn a page, the lad saw her looking and, with boyish good nature offered half his paper, saying bluntly, “want to read it? That’s a first-rate story.”
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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.
