elite1 nounelite2 adjective
elitee‧lite1 /eɪˈliːt, ɪ-/ ●○○ noun [countable] 
WORD ORIGINelite1
Origin:
1800-1900 French past participle of élire ‘to choose’, from Latin eligere; ➔ ELECT1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- All the glamorous Washington elite were at the dinner that evening.
- Only a small elite can afford to send their children to this school.
- The Parachute Regiment are the elite of the British armed forces.
- The President has been accused of developing policies in favor of a small elite.
- The ruling elite have resisted all attempts at reform.
- The sort of goods once reserved for the elite are now available to everyone.
- For them an elite must prove itself in this ability to murder.
- Hotel Okura Tokyo Where the business elite meet in Tokyo.
- The agencies dealing with business and corporate elites tend to employ a more co-operative mode than those dealing with the poor.
- The group approach explicitly rejects the notion that a small elite dominates the resource allocation process.
Longman Language Activatorthe best people or things in a group
· She was the best in her class at college.· I chose a Japanese camera because I wanted to have the best.the best in his/her field (=the person who knows most about a particular subject) · When it comes to cancer research, Professor Williams is probably the best in her field.
the best player in a team, the best student in a class etc: · Sonya's the class star.star of: · They're all strong players, but Laura's undoubtedly the star of the team.star player/performer/student/pupil etc: · Woodward continues to be the Post's star reporter.
the small number of people who are the very best in a particular group, because they are the most intelligent or the most highly skilled: · The cream of India's scientists are being attracted abroad by highly paid jobs.the cream of the crop (=the best people or things in a particular group): · Universities such as Harvard accept only the cream of the crop.
: elite troops/group/college etc a group of people who are the best, and most highly trained or educated: · The palace is guarded by elite troops loyal to the president.· In 1978 he joined the CRS, France's elite corps of riot police.
also the pick of the bunch British informal the one that you think is the best among a group of people or things, especially a small group: · This last poem's my favorite -- definitely the pick of the bunch.· They've come out with several good wines this year, but in my opinion the chardonnay is the best of the bunch.
belonging to the highest class belonging to the class of people who originally had most of the money and power, especially families that own a lot of land: · Most senior politicians in the UK are from upper-class families.· He spoke with an upper-class accent.
the people who belong to families that own a lot of land, and used to have a lot of power, and have special titles before their names, like 'Lord' or 'Lady' - used especially when you are talking about the past: the aristocracy: · Daughters of rich merchants would often marry into the aristocracy.
having a high position in society that has special, and usually unfair, advantages such as power, money and the best education: · In many countries today only a privileged minority get the chance of going to university.
a small group of rich and powerful people who have special, unfair advantages that other people do not have: · The President has been accused of developing policies in favor of a small elite.· The sort of goods once reserved for the elite are now available to everyone.
British spoken use this about someone who behaves and speaks in a way in which upper-class people usually behave or speak: · Will your posh university friends be coming tonight?posh school/hotel/restaurant etc (=one that is very expensive, that rich people go to): · She went to a posh girls' school in Switzerland.
a small group of people who are unwilling to let other people join them a small group of people who like the same things and are very friendly with each other but who do not want other people to join them: · Most of the kids were friendly, apart from a clique of girls who came from rich families.· a clique of literary friends who thought they were so superior
a group of people who are the richest, most powerful, best educated etc in society, and who do not want others to share their advantages: · Only a small elite can afford to send their children to this school.· All the glamorous Washington elite were at the dinner that evening.
a small group of people who are admired by others because they are very fashionable, or who know things that other people do not, and who it is difficult to become friendly with: · That's the nightclub where all the in-crowd go.· He wanted to be accepted, to be part of the in-crowd.· Within the political in-crowd are some extremely influential figures.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
the domination of power by a small political elite a struggle for power within the ruling eliteCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a group of people who have a lot of power and influence because they have money, knowledge, or special skillspolitical/social/economic etc elite the domination of power by a small political elite a struggle for power within the ruling elite (=the best, most skilled or most experienced troops)· The general's headquarters is guarded by crack troops.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Post-war organization theory develops the democratic elitist account to accord a much more substantive policy role to administrative elites.· The rise of the Carron de Saint-Thomas clan offers a generalized illustration of how the Savoyard administrative elite developed at this time.· Instrumentalists regard administrative elites as simply functionaries who make policy according to the rational interests of the capitalist class.· Elected governments and administrative elites are passive functionaries who simply facilitate the bargains struck by the functional elites.· The decentralization imperative implicit in factoring problems runs into the co-ordination imperative felt keenly by the executive political and administrative elite.· Space programmes also highlight contrasts in administrative and managerial elites.· There is also a much closer interconnection than in Britain between political elites and administrative elites within the state.
· Most of those who can are either white or among the new black elite.· His philosophy of pragmatic capitalism and backslapping politics were viciously attacked by members of the Northern black elite.
· In fact, for both economic and cultural reasons, elite Western workers are often better left behind these days.
· The Western economic elite has always been a small class and continues so to this day.· The research will concentrate particularly on the changing role of the city's political and economic elites.· The drug mafia have become a new economic elite, beyond government control.· In each election its percentage of the vote has risen despite vicious opposition from the economic elites and the mainstream media.
· The absence of alternation also has consequences for the governing elite.· For him, regulationism meant adherence to the values and ordered hierarchy of the governing elite as much as to sanitary reform.
· The opposition mostly represents the upper-middle class and intellectual elite.· In this area, change is very slow, and is confined almost entirely to the intellectual elite.· The source of objective legal rules thus appears to be the fully developed rationality of the intellectual elites of different nations.
· It goes either to local elites or for export to more affluent societies.
· Imperial governments created a new elite of natives and invested them with the power of their language of administration and justice.· Bankers and the new elite were threatened by bankruptcy.· The drug mafia have become a new economic elite, beyond government control.· Most of those who can are either white or among the new black elite.· He wanted to cover himself with glory, and what better way than getting accepted by this new elite.· Your Internet wanderings will reveal that cyber savers are the new elite, benefiting from superior rates.
· With the arrival of self-made tycoons such as Stagecoach's Brian Souter, the sway of the old elite may be diminishing.
· In any case, Weber is not very much concerned about the absence of popular control over the political elites.· Well-informed, experienced political elites have made little or no progress solving any of these problems.· The research will concentrate particularly on the changing role of the city's political and economic elites.· The decentralization imperative implicit in factoring problems runs into the co-ordination imperative felt keenly by the executive political and administrative elite.· The apparently untidy structure of the machinery of government, and its constant alteration, reflect the objectives of the political elites.· Such an approach may have become more widespread among the Soviet political elite since the death of Brezhnev.· This will propel her into the political elite and could make her the most likely leftwing candidate for president in 2006.
· After his speech the night before in the Academy, Brown had become an extremely unpopular figure amongst the ruling elite.· This freedom did not necessarily find expression in forms which were in conflict with the ruling patrician elite.· One example can be found in the response of ruling groups and elites to the student movement of the 1960s.· Have they become a ruling elite or even a new ruling class?· He had travelled across the city from the suburbs to the apartments of the ruling elite.
· In the Ormansag there is now a small wealthy elite, but everybody else is poor.· The group approach explicitly rejects the notion that a small elite dominates the resource allocation process.· There is also a huge gulf between the small educated elite and ordinary Gypsies.
· In short, the attitudes of both the social elite and the labor movement have served to hinder economic growth.· What was the exact nature of the social and political elite that dominated state and society at this time?· This seems a clear example of his allegiance to popular dissent against the Church and social elite who supported the Restoration.· Higher level administrators are the relatives and friends of business and social elites.· It is not a separate corporate body distinct from the dominant social elites.· Party conferences were theatrical productions frequented by a social elite of fashion designers, architects, financiers and intellectuals.· The poem stylistically asserts its participation in high literary culture, a culture by the 1670s unquestionably associated with a social elite.· The leaderships of political parties are both social elites and state elites.
· After 10 years, the cocaine trade has joined, and to some extent displaced, the traditional elite class.· In the name of economic liberalism, the Thatcher governments made war on traditional institutions and traditional elites.· Neo-elitists such as Bachrach and Wright share with traditional elite theoreticians a concern to demonstrate the real persistence of elites in modern society.
· Infected rates are high among urban elites as well as among the poor and underprivileged.· Political power is inversely correlated with economic productivity. Urban elites are economically parasitic but politically dominant.· In the great majority of developing countries, such urban elites spearheaded the fight against the colonizing power.
NOUN· Hotel Okura Tokyo Where the business elite meet in Tokyo.· Significantly, this new prosperity is not confined to the business elite or even the emerging middle class.· By this point, the council had initiated the first of several large redevelopment projects proposed by the business elite.
VERB· However, unlike Mills they see professional groups as losing their power and influence rather than as joining the power elite.· He joins that elite group of Town stalwarts at a time when his future is uncertain.· But, once established, the service class is extremely effective in ensuring that its offspring also joins this elite.
· If there were ever an illustration of an effete ruling elite, it is this.· But Arkan's most dangerous enemies were those in the ruling elite.· There were no heroes and heroines to persecute, no ruling elite and no mastering committee.· The country is still ruled by people who are heirs to a ruling Western elite.· Of course the ruling elites are still capable of using repressive forces.· In spite of the West's move to hit the ruling elite with more sanctions, few think change will come soon.· Yet information, particularly over the internal situation and the political attitudes of the ruling elite, is scarce.
the domination of power by a small political elite a struggle for power within the ruling eliteelite1 nounelite2 adjective
eliteelite2 ●○○ adjective an elite group contains the best, most skilled, or most experienced people or members of a larger group: an elite group of artists elite universities