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métier

[mey-tyey, mey-tyey]
See more synonyms for métier on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a field of work; occupation, trade, or profession.
  2. a field of work or other activity in which one has special ability or training; forte.
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Origin of métier

1785–95; < French; Old French mestier < Gallo-Romance *misterium, for Latin ministerium ministry
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

businesscareerworkprofessionspecialtytradefortecraftlineoccupation

Examples from the Web for metier

Historical Examples

  • No man invents a metier without a strong element of success.

    The Daltons, Volume I (of II)

    Charles James Lever

  • He was one with his idea and his metier, and that is sufficient.

    Adventures in the Arts

    Marsden Hartley

  • Fighting seemed their metier and most of them preferred it to the monotony of working a mine.

    Across the Mesa

    Jarvis Hall

  • Our metier is not to compare, but to take what pleases us from each.

  • It spins to brave music, this peg-top, but its metier is to spin.

    In Vanity Fair

    Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd

British Dictionary definitions for metier

métier

noun
  1. a profession or trade, esp that to which one is well suited
  2. a person's strong point or speciality
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Word Origin

C18: from French, ultimately from Latin ministerium service
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 metier

n.

"skill, talent, calling," 1792, from French métier "trade, profession," from Old French mestier "task, affair, service, function, duty," from Gallo-Romance *misterium, from Latin ministerium "office, service," from minister "servant" (see minister (n.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper