métier

[mey-tyey, mey-tyey]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR métier ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a field of work; occupation, trade, or profession.

a field of work or other activity in which one has special ability or training; forte.

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. 2019

Related Words for metier

business, career, work, profession, specialty, trade, forte, craft, line, occupation

Examples from the Web for metier

Historical Examples of metier

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.
A Rock in the Baltic
Robert Barr
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

a profession or trade, esp that to which one is well suited

a person's strong point or speciality

Word Origin for métier

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

"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.)).