MASTERPIECE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does masterpiece mean? 

• MASTERPIECE (noun)
  The noun MASTERPIECE has 2 senses:

1. the most outstanding work of a creative artist or craftsman

2. an outstanding achievement

  Familiarity information: MASTERPIECE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MASTERPIECE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The most outstanding work of a creative artist or craftsman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

chef-d'oeuvre; masterpiece

Hypernyms ("masterpiece" is a kind of...):

piece of work; work (a product produced or accomplished through the effort or activity or agency of a person or thing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An outstanding achievement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("masterpiece" is a kind of...):

accomplishment; achievement (the action of accomplishing something)

 Context examples 

"But what good are these bigger-things, these masterpieces?" Ruth demanded.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He looked at the workmanship; there was not one false stitch in the whole job; all was so neat and true, that it was quite a masterpiece.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A tailor!’ said I, for there was a double hole through the tails of my masterpiece.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a masterpiece of villainy, and he carried it out like a master.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A good deal of hammering went on before the curtain rose again, but when it became evident what a masterpiece of stage carpentery had been got up, no one murmured at the delay.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A masterpiece.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Suffice it to observe, that it was a masterpiece of eloquence; and that those passages in which he more particularly traced his own successful career to its source, and warned the younger portion of his auditory from the shoals of ever incurring pecuniary liabilities which they were unable to liquidate, brought a tear into the manliest eye present.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In between the grind I'll try my hand at masterpieces, and I'll study and prepare myself for the writing of masterpieces.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We can't get married on masterpieces that won't sell.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A masterpiece, that story—I knew it when I had read the first half-dozen lines.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)