pièce de résistance love

pièce de résistance

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An outstanding accomplishment.
  • noun The principal dish of a meal.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • The most important piece or feature; the show piece; the main event or incident in any round or series, as the most forcible article in a magazine, the principal exhibition or performance in a show or theatrical entertainment, or the most substantial dish in a dinner.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun idiomatic A masterpiece; the most memorable accomplishment of one’s career or lifetime.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French : pièce, piece + de, of, with + résistance, staying power, lastingness.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French pièce de résistance.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • piece de resistance is a French phrase used in English BUT it is unknown as a phrase in France! They may use plat de resistance instead. I have used the piece de resistance a number of times to impress my French friends but they just look at me blankly. I wonder if there are other examples where a foreign phrase used in English is itself not used or common in the original language?

    July 25, 2013

  • I can kind of give you 'run amok' (or amuck). In Indonesian 'amuk' is a verb all of itself, i.e. not requiring 'to run'. If you said 'berlari amuk', i.e. amuk with the verb 'to run' in front of it, the laughter might conceivably last for days.

    August 1, 2013