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Synonyms

top brass

American  

noun

Informal.

  1. brass.

top brass British  

noun

  1. informal (functioning as plural) the most important or high-ranking officials or leaders, as in politics, industry, etc See also brass

"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
top brass Idioms  

  1. see under brass hat.

Etymology

Origin of top brass

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

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.

Military top brass, political elites and ordinary party members will crowd Pyongyang for the twice-a-decade gathering, with supreme leader Kim Jong Un taking centre stage.

From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026

Last month, Kim vowed to root out "evil" and scolded lazy officials at a major meeting of Pyongyang's top brass.

From Barron's • Jan. 20, 2026

Inside Paramount, some call Cardinale “The Godfather,” a nod to the studio’s famed film, because of his role as a guru of sorts to its top brass, people who work with him say.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

By the time the Ashes began, all of the top brass knew what had gone on with Brook in Wellington.

From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026

It appeared to contain an archive of the Oology Division’s status reports, intended for the Sixers’ top brass.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

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.