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métier

[mey-tyey, mey-tyey]
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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.

RELATED WORDS

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

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

Examples from the Web for metier

Historical Examples of metier

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

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

    Across the Mesa

    Jarvis Hall

  • He was not ashamed of his metier and allowed no threats nor pleas nor argument to disturb him.

    In Vanity Fair

    Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd

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

  • Alas, I have been amazingly lazy; it was my metier to look on.

    The Grey Room

    Eden Phillpotts

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
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.)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper