cachet
/ˈkaʃeɪ
/noun
1 [mass noun] The state of being respected or admired; prestige: no other shipping company had quite the cachet of Cunard...
- Top academics are still be respected but no cachet is attached to the level of gaining a degree in any arts subject.
- There are, or so I read, those who claim that a journalist writing a weblog adds a certain respectability and cachet to the medium.
- The most modern interpretation of badge engineering can work rather nicely, though, especially at the lowest end of the market where prestige and cachet don't figure.
Synonyms
prestige, prestigiousness, distinction, status, standing, kudos, snob value, stature, prominence, importance, pre-eminence, eminence;
street credibility;
merit, value;
New Zealand mana
informal street cred
2A distinguishing mark or seal: special cachets are applied to cards sold at the stands...
- The historian's pose dissociates the author from all the observations he lets fall save those sealed with a personal cachet.
- But these brands have yet to exploit the cachet of ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ in their marketing, in the way that some non-runway labels have seized upon.
- The cachet for each bears appropriate wording.
3A flat capsule enclosing a dose of unpleasant-tasting medicine.Once he had to prepare a sedative cachet for an obstreperous lion; fortunately he did not have to administer it.
Origin
Early 17th century: from French, from cacher in the sense 'to press', based on Latin coactare 'constrain'.