Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Masterpiece |
MasterpieceNoun1. The most outstanding work of a creative artist or craftsman. 2. An outstanding achievement. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "masterpiece" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A masterpiece was a piece of handicraft art produced by a journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. These were typically perfect pieces of handicraft art, and are admired for their beauty and elegance.Nowadays this term mostly refers to any piece of any art that is extraordinarily well performed.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Masterpiece."
Synonym: MasterpieceSynonym: chef-d'oeuvre (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inexpedience | Super-excellence, supereminence; superiority; perfection; coup de maitre; masterpiece, chef d'ouvre, prime, flower, cream, elite, pick, A, nonesuch, nonpareil, creme de la creme, flower of the flock, salt of the earth; champion; prodigy. |
Perfection | Masterpiece, superexcellence; (goodness); transcendence; (superiority). |
Skill | Masterpiece, coup de maitre, chef d'euvre, tour de force; good stroke; (plan). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Masterpiece |
| English words defined with "masterpiece": low-key, low-keyed ♦ Master work ♦ subdued. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "masterpiece": Chef d'OEuvre ♦ MicroStation. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | you are uglier than a modern art masterpiece. (Full Metal Jacket; writing credit: Gustav Hasford, Michael Herr, Stanley Kubrick) Your so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece! (Full Metal Jacket; writing credit: Gustav Hasford; Michael Herr) I keep telling you, when you sell a fake masterpiece, it's a crime (How to Steal a Million; writing credit: George Bradshaw; Harry Kurnitz) | |
Lyrics | I've created a devastating masterpiece ("Rapper's Delight"; performing artist: Sugarhill Gang) My vicious rhyme I call my masterpiece ("Rapper's Delight"; performing artist: Sugarhill Gang) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Masterpiece Theatre (1971) Magoo's Masterpiece (1953) Masterpiece Playhouse (1950) The Devil's Masterpiece (1927) McSweeney's Masterpiece (1914) | |
Song Titles | Masterpiece (performing artist: Temptations) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Faking a masterpiece. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Andrew Mack, America's greatest Irish comedian in Dion Boucicault's masterpiece, Arrah-Na-Pogue. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Mr. Andrew Robson in Chas. Coghlan's masterpiece, The royal box. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | E.R. Spencer & Isabel Pengra in Steele MacKaye's masterpiece, Paul Kauvar. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Author Unknown | Let each day be your masterpiece. |
Elbert Hubbard | Man is Creation's masterpiece; but who says so? |
Frank Lloyd Wright | Respect the masterpiece. It is true reverence to man. There is no quality so great, none so much needed now. |
John Ruskin | When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. |
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne | The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with purpose. |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He felt that since such men were to die, their death should be a masterpiece. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Masterpiece" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.98% of the time. "Masterpiece" is used about 394 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.98% | 390 | 14,213 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.76% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (common) | 0.25% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 394 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| USA | Masterpiece Technology Group, Inc. |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "masterpiece": near-masterpiece. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "masterpiece"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | punë mjeshtore, kryevepër (chef d'oeuvre, smasher). (various references) | |
Arabic | تحفة (curio, masterwork, rarity), عمل فني مميز (masterwork), النموذج (sample), القطعة الممتازة, رائعة (masterwork, stunner). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | шедьовър (chef d'oeuvre). (various references) | |
Chinese | 杰作, 名著 , 傑作 . (various references) | |
Danish | mesterværk, mesterstykke. (various references) | |
Dutch | proefstuk van een leerling, 2. meesterstuk. (various references) | |
Finnish | mestariteos. (various references) | |
French | chef-d'oeuvre, chef d'"uvre (masterwork). (various references) | |
German | Meisterwerk (masterwork), Meisterstück (master stroke). (various references) | |
Greek | αριστούργημα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מלאכת מחשבת (artistic work, masterwork, work of art), יצירת מופת (chef doeuvre), 'ולת "כותרת (climax, crowning). (various references) | |
Hungarian | mestermû (chef d'oeuvre), mestermű (masterwork), remekmû (chef d'oeuvre). (various references) | |
Indonesian | karya besar. (various references) | |
Italian | capolavoro (chef d'oeuvre, masterwork). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 傑作 (best work, blunder, boner). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | たいちょ (bulky volume, voluminous work), マスター"ース , かいさく (adaptation, cutting, digging, excavation, splendid work), あっか" (best part, crook, feeling feverish and chilly, highlight, ill or unhappy feeling, rascal, ruffian, scoundrel, villain), めいが (famous picture, parasitic moth), めいひ" (fine product), めいさく, めいちょ (famous book), ゆうへ", けっさく (best work, blunder, boner), じょうさく (best policy, excellent plan, good crop), いひょうさく (representative work). (various references) | |
Korean | 걸작. (various references) | |
Manx | ard-obbyr (achievement, magnum opus). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | asterpiecemay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | obra-prima (chef d'oeuvre). (various references) | |
Romanian | capodoperã (magnum opus). (various references) | |
Russian | шедевр (chef d'oeuvre). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | majstorija (contrivance, sleight of hand, stunt), remekdelo (magnum opus, masterwork). (various references) | |
Spanish | obra maestra (chef d'oeuvre, d'oeuvre, magnum opus, masterwork, showpiece). (various references) | |
Swedish | mästerverk (chef d'oeuvre). (various references) | |
Turkish | şaheser (chef doeuvre, magnum opus, masterwork). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | шедевр. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tác phẩm lớn (masterwork), kiệt tác (masterwork). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "masterpiece": masterpieces. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "masterpiece" (pronounced ma"sterpē's) |
| 5 | -t er p ē' s | altarpiece, centerpiece. |
| 3 | -p ē' s | crosspiece, eyepiece, mouthpiece, showpiece, timepiece. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-e-i-m-p-r-s-t" | |
-1 letter: imprecates, peacetimes, spermaceti. | |
-2 letters: creamiest, creepiest, earpieces, epimerase, impacters, imprecate, miscreate, peacetime, permeates, semierect, spermatic. | |
-3 letters: campiest, campsite, casimere, ceramist, crampits, creepies, cremates, crepiest, crispate, earpiece, eateries, emeritae, emeritas, emirates, emperies, emptiers, epimeres, eremites, impacter, matrices, mistrace, parecism, paretics, parietes, permease, permeate, picrates, practise, preemies, primates, receipts, sapremic, scimetar, seapiece, speciate, steamier, temperas. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-e-i-m-p-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: masterpieces. | |
+2 letters: intemperances. | |
+3 letters: cephalometries, chemotherapies. | |
+4 letters: complementaries. | |
+5 letters: pancreatectomies. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Company Usage 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
