superb
adjUK /suːˈpɜːb/ · US /suˈpɝb/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin superbus.
1
First-rate; of the highest quality; exceptionally good.
- This champagne is superb.
- Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
1 more example
- The hundredodd pages of photographs provide superb iconography of artistic collaboration and its rewards.1975 May 4, Dale Harris, “Merce Cunningham”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2024:
2
Grand; magnificent; august; stately.
- a superb edifice; a superb colonnade
3
Dated Haughty.
- A remark which Isabella received with a superb curl of the lip, but at the same time, and to her brother's infinite relief, she walked away.1858, Julia Kavanagh, Adèle, a Tale: Volume 2, page 235:
- Synonyms
- excellent, superlative, world-beating
- Derived terms
- superb fairywren, superbity, superb lily, superbly, superb lyrebird, superbness, superb owl, superb parrot, superb warbler