superelite

English

Alternative forms

• super-elite

Etymology

From super- +‎ elite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suːpəɹɪˈliːt/, /suːpəɹəˈliːt/, /suːpəɹɛˈliːt/, /suːpəɹeɪˈliːt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

superelite (plural superelites)

1. An elite that ranks above the regular elite.
   • 1952, United States Congress, Senate, Committee on Armed Services, Incentive Pay and Overseas Allowances‎^[1], U.S. Government Printing Office, page 106:

     I can summarize my own position very simply: That, if they are bonus payments for hazardous duty and to the degree that they are, they should be equalized rather than confined to a special group. To the degree which they are bonus payments for attracting better qualified personnel, I am very dubious about using money incentives to build up an elite or a superelite or a super-superelite.

   • 1963, Clinton Hartley Grattan, The Southwest Pacific Since 1900‎^[2], Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, page 104:

     This meant that high-school graduates were in effect an elite, and since only a minority of them went on to the universities, university graduates were a superelite.

   • 1982, Clinton Hartley Grattan, Political Affairs 1982-07: Volume 61, Issue 7‎^[3], Political Affairs Publishers, Incorporated, page 8:

     This all-out goal is combined with an apparent readiness to launch nuclear aggression whenever its calculations “assure” the survival of the few thousand superelite of the United States.

Adjective

superelite (comparative more superelite, superlative most superelite)

1. Being above and beyond elite.
   • 1965, Geneviève Antoine-Dariaux, Entertaining with Elegance‎^[4], Doubleday, page 381:

     There are also two superelite champagnes, which are produced in a very limited quantity.

   • 1967, Robert Sherrill, The Accidental President‎^[5], Grossman Publishers, page 190:

     For an example of this need: when members of the superelite Business Council held their fall meeting at Hot Springs, Virginia, they predicted that toward the end of 1967 there would be a sharp slowdown of the economy; indeed, a group of economists headed by Walter Hoadley, senior vice-president of the Bank of America, forecast virtually a halt in economic growth in the butt months of 1967.

   • 1973, Joan Huber, Changing Women in a Changing Society‎^[6], University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 168:

     Three had their own practices, and two had become public figures. One was salaried but had attained the superelite position of partnership in a Wall Street Firm.

Further reading

• “superelite”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “superelite”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• eureptiles