prestige
pronunciation
How to pronounce prestige in British English:
UK [preˈstiːʒ]
How to pronounce prestige in American English:
US [preˈstiːʒ]
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- Noun:
- a high standing achieved through success or influence or wealth etc.
Word Origin
- prestige
- prestige: [17] As opponents of semantic change are fond of pointing out, prestige once meant ‘trick, illusion’, and its use until the 19th century was usually derogatory. It comes via French prestige from Latin praestigiae ‘illusions produced by a conjurer or juggler’, an alteration of an unrecorded *praestrigiae. This would have been a derivative of praestringere ‘blindfold’, hence ‘confuse the sight, dazzle’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and stringere ‘bind’ (source of English strict). The modern approbatory meaning appears to have been reintroduced from French.=> strict
- prestige (n.)
- 1650s, "trick," from French prestige (16c.) "deceit, imposture, illusion" (in Modern French, "illusion, magic, glamour"), from Latin praestigium "delusion, illusion" (see prestigious). Derogatory until 19c.; sense of "dazzling influence" first applied 1815, to Napoleon.
Example
- 1. That accolade still lacks the prestige of wimbledon champion .
- 2. But fighting in afghanistan is not just about prestige .
- 3. The market 's success is also a matter of global prestige .
- 4. But other nations are emerging , set on sharing influence and prestige .
- 5. Queen elizabeth ii has all the social prestige , but no political or economic power .