A group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status.

synonym: elite group.

Roget 648: goodness etc. adj.; excellence, merit; virtue etc. 944; value, worth, price.    super-excellence, supereminence; superiority etc. 33; perfection etc. 650; coup de maitre [Fr.]; masterpiece, chef d'ouvre [Fr.], prime, flower, cream, elite, pick, A 1, nonesuch, nonpareil, creme de la creme, flower of the flock, cock of the roost, salt of the earth; champion; prodigy.    tidbit; gem, gem of the first water; bijou, precious stone, jewel, pearl, diamond, ruby, brilliant, treasure; good thing; rara avis [Lat.], one in a thousand.    beneficence etc. 906; good man etc. 948.    ... show more

Roget 852: fashion, style, ton, bon ton^†, society; good society, polite society; monde [Fr.]; drawing-room, civilized life, civilization, town, beau monde [Fr.], high life, court; world; fashionable world, gay world; Vanity Fair; show etc. (ostentation) 822.    manners, breeding etc. (politeness) 894; air, demeanor etc. (appearance) 448; savoir faire [Fr.]; gentlemanliness^†, gentility, decorum, propriety, biens_eance [Fr.]; conventions of society; Mrs.    Grundy; punctilio; form, formality; etiquette, point of etiquette; dress etc. 225.    custom etc. 613; mode, vogue, go; rage etc. (desire) 865; prevailing taste; fad, trend, bandwagon, furore^†, thing, in thing, craze, chic, last word.    man of fashion, woman of fashion, man of the world, woman of the world; height of fashion, pink of fashion, star of fashion, glass of fashion, leader of fashion; arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.] etc. (taste) 850; the beautiful people, the fashion set, upper ten thousand etc. (nobility) 875; elite etc. (distinction) 873; smart set; the four hundred [U.S.]; in crowd.    ... show more

Roget 873: distinction, mark, name, figure; repute, reputation; good repute, high repute; note, notability, notoriety, eclat, the bubble reputation" [As You Like It], vogue, celebrity; fame, famousness; renown; popularity, aura popularis [Lat.]; approbation etc. 931; credit, succes d'estime [Fr.], prestige, talk of the town; name to conjure with.    glory, honor; luster etc. (light) 420; illustriousness etc. adj.. account, regard, respect; reputableness etc. adj.^†; respectability etc. (probity) 939; good name, good report; fair name.    dignity; stateliness etc. adj.; solemnity, grandeur, splendor, nobility, majesty, sublimity.    rank, standing, brevet rank, precedence, pas, station, place, status; position, position in society; order, degree, baccalaureate, locus standi [Lat.], caste, condition.    greatness etc. adj.; eminence; height etc. 206; importance etc. 642; preeminence, supereminence; high mightiness, primacy; top of the ladder, top of the tree.    elevation; ascent etc. 305; superaltation^†, exaltation; dignification^†, aggrandizement.    dedication, consecration, enthronement, canonization, celebration, enshrinement, glorification.    hero, man of mark, great card, celebrity, worthy, lion, rara avis [Lat.], notability, somebody; classman^†; man of rank etc. (nobleman) 875; pillar of the state, pillar of the church, pillar of the community.    chief etc. (master) 745; first fiddle etc. (proficient) 700; cynosure, mirror; flower, pink, pearl; paragon etc. (perfection) 650; choice and master spirits of the age; elite; star, sun, constellation, galaxy.    ornament, honor, feather in one's cap, halo, aureole, nimbus; halo of glory, blaze of glory, blushing honors; laurels etc. (trophy) 733.    memory, posthumous fame, niche in the temple of fame; immortality, immortal name; magni nominis umbra [Lat.] [Lucan]. ... show more

Roget 875: nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy^†, blood, pur sang [Fr.], birth, high descent, order; quality, gentility; blue blood of Castile; ancien regime [Fr.].    high life, haute monde [Fr.]; upper classes, upper ten thousand; the four hundred [U.S.]; elite, aristocracy, great folks; fashionable world etc. (fashion) 852.    peer, peerage; house of lords, house of peers; lords, lords temporal and spiritual; noblesse; noble, nobleman; lord, lordling^†; grandee, magnifico [Lat.], hidalgo; daimio [Jap.], daimyo [Jap.], samurai [Jap.], shizoku [Jap.]; don, donship^†; aristocrat, swell, three-tailed bashaw^†; gentleman, squire, squireen^†, patrician, laureate.    gentry, gentlefolk; squirarchy [Slang], better sort magnates, primates, optimates^†; pantisocracy^†.    king etc. (master) 745; atheling^†; prince, duke; marquis, marquisate^†; earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret^†; baronet, baronetcy^†; knight, knighthood; count, armiger^†, laird; signior^†, seignior; esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour^†; emir, ameer^†, scherif^†, sharif, effendi, wali; sahib; chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave^†, pasha, rajah, waldgrave^†.    princess, begum^†, duchess, marchioness; countess &c.; lady, dame; memsahib; Do$a, maharani, rani.    personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark; notables, notabilities; celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar; big bug; big gun, great gun; gilded rooster [U.S.]; magni nominis umbra [Lat.] [Lucan]; every inch a king" [Lear]. ... show more

Dutch: bovenlaag, elite
Polish: establishment, sosjeta, top, socjeta, elita, high life, śmietanka

Selected as the best:
— Elite colleges.

synonym: elect.

Polish: elitarny