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• supreme
  supreme

  adjective

  highest in rank or authority; paramount; sovereign; chief.
• suprême
  suprême

  noun

  a velouté made with a rich chicken stock.

supreme

¹ American  

[suh-preem, soo-] / səˈprim, sʊ- /

adjective

1. highest in rank or authority; paramount; sovereign; chief.

2. of the highest quality, degree, character, importance, etc..

   supreme courage.

3. greatest, utmost, or extreme.

   supreme disgust.

4. last or final; ultimate.

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suprême ² American  

[suh-preem, -praym, soo-, sy-prem] / səˈprim, -ˈpreɪm, sʊ-, süˈprɛm /

noun

1. Also called sauce suprême. a velouté made with a rich chicken stock.

2. Also called suprême de volaille. a dish prepared or served with this sauce, especially boned chicken breast.

3. Also supreme

   1. a bowl or the like designed for the serving of cold foods in an inner container that is nestled in cracked ice.

   2. a dessert or appetizer served in such a container.

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supreme ¹ British  

/ sʊˈpriːm, sjʊ- /

adjective

1. of highest status or power

   a supreme tribunal

2. (usually prenominal) of highest quality, importance, etc

   supreme endeavour

3. greatest in degree; extreme

   supreme folly

4. (prenominal) final or last, esp being last in one's life or progress; ultimate

   the supreme judgment

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suprême ² British  

/ sʊˈpriːm, sjʊ-, -ˈprɛm /

noun

1. Also called: suprême sauce. a rich velouté sauce made with a base of veal or chicken stock, with cream or egg yolks added

2. the best or most delicate part of meat, esp the breast and wing of chicken, cooked in suprême sauce

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Other Word Forms

• supremeness
  noun
• supremely
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of supreme¹

First recorded in 1510–20; from Latin suprēmus “uppermost,” superlative of superus “upper,” adjective derivative of super ( see super-)

Origin of suprême²

First recorded in 1830–40; from French, from Latin suprēmus supreme

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Explanation

If you are the greatest, the most powerful, and the highest, you are supreme. The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. A supreme being is a god or other higher power. A supreme leader is an all-powerful ruler. Sometimes, when everyone else is driving you crazy, you might daydream about being the supreme leader of your school, office, or maybe the entire country, so you could tell everyone else what to do. Or you might just order a supreme pizza, which usually has every imaginable topping on it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

supreme suprême

To the outside world, it’s not even clear that Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, is alive.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

He was initially sentenced by a Geneva court in 2014 to life in prison, but in 2017, the Swiss supreme court ordered a retrial over what it deemed was the use of faulty evidence.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

I’d argue that it is actually an expression of supreme self-love and self-awareness that you’re comfortable enough with yourself to be absolutely content going to a concert as a party of one.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026

At a hearing on Wednesday, an attorney for Tennessee said the decision on scheduling a new execution date was up to the state's supreme court.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Perhaps the supreme example of Jefferson’s greater flexibility occurred on the foreign policy front.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

He began to whisking up a variation on sauce suprême that would incorporate sherry vinegar and mustard made with grape must.

From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2020

But it is also threadbare elegant with its hint of sherry, and you could call the gravy a French sauce suprême if you liked.

From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2017

There may be less comfort here; but nobody feels the want of it; and there is certainly more amusement—and amusement is here truly "le suprême bonheur."

From The Diary of an Ennuyée by Mrs. (Anna) Jameson

Take them up, drain well, and stew them in half a pint of sauce suprême, with a dozen small mushrooms, for ten minutes.

From Choice Cookery by Catherine Owen

We were treated to the eternal sausage and something they called beefsteak; it might as well have been called "suprême de donkey," it was so tough.

From In the Courts of Memory, 1858 1875; from Contemporary Letters by L. de (Lillie de) Hegermann-Lindencrone

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