succès d'estime

[syk-se des-teem]

noun

French.

1. success won by reason of merit and critical respect rather than by popularity.

succès d'estime

/ syksɛ dɛstim /

noun

1. success, as of a book, play, etc, based on the appreciation of the critics rather than popular acclaim

Word History and Origins

Origin of succès d'estime¹

literally: success of esteem

Example Sentences

The production, which launched at New York City Center before transferring to Broadway, proved that a succès d’estime could also be an emotionally stirring hit.

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“Parade,” Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s 1998 musical about a historic miscarriage of justice involving a Jewish man wrongly accused of murder in the Jim Crow South, was considered a succès d’estime.

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But that didn’t make it a succès d’estime.

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Still, it was more succès d’estime than moneymaker.

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The show became the succès d’estime and de scandale of the London season, and in 1965 moved from the West End to Broadway.

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