pièce de résistance
Americannoun
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the principal dish of a meal.
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the most noteworthy or prized feature, aspect, event, article, etc., of a series or group; special item or attraction.
noun
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the principal or most outstanding item in a series or creative artist's work
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the main dish of a meal
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pièce de résistance
First recorded in 1780–90; from French: literally, “piece of resistance”; development of senses is unclear
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.
Jack and Sally’s fated romance is the final piece of the puzzle, the pièce de résistance that helps De Palma’s film rise above the other thrillers of its ilk.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
But its pièce de résistance for Roffman was Caselotti herself, who was home that afternoon and happy to entertain strangers with her cherubic singsong cadence.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2025
Its pièce de résistance is its very own AI model, called the Large Nature Model.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2024
His pièce de résistance was riding through the dining room after dinner on a bicycle with a port tray balanced on the handlebars, a trick that was noted in his obituary in The Telegraph.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
By this means the Gold Cup for eights, the pièce de résistance of the regatta, passed in 1848 to the possession of the ‘Thames’ Club.
From Boating by Woodgate, W. B.
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.
