Definitions

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

  • noun The level of respect at which a person or thing is regarded by others; standing.
  • noun Good reputation; honor.
  • noun Great respect or importance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Illusion; juggling trick; fascination; charm; imposture.
  • noun An illusion as to one's personal merit or importance, particularly a flattering illusion; hence, a reputation for excellence, importance, or authority; weight or influence arising from reputation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Delusion; illusion; trick.
  • noun Weight or influence derived from past success; expectation of future achievements founded on those already accomplished; force or charm derived from acknowledged character or reputation.

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

  • noun obsolete Delusion; illusion; trick.
  • noun The quality of how good the reputation of something or someone is, how favourably something or someone is regarded

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a high standing achieved through success or influence or wealth etc.

Etymologies

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

[French, illusion, magic trick, charm, ability to inspire admiration, prestige, from Latin praestīgiae, tricks, probably alteration of *praestrīgiae, from praestringere, to touch, blunt, blind : prae-, pre- + stringere, to draw tight; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French prestige ("illusion, fascination, enchantment, prestige")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word prestige.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called the pledge. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called the turn. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call the prestige.

    October 15, 2007

  • Whaddaya know‽ Something new every day...

    October 15, 2007

  • The film itself was a magic trick, with a final scene that fools most viewers.

    October 15, 2007

  • Don't tell, don't tell! Haven't seen it yet. :-)

    October 15, 2007

  • One of my favorite movies of all time, just watched it again last night with some friends. It's really a masterpiece, one of those movies that will still have you thinking about it and asking questions days later. Reesetee, what are you waiting for? :-)

    October 15, 2007

  • Uh...waiting to drag myself away from Wordie so I have enough time to see a movie? ;-)

    October 15, 2007