masterpiece

English

Alternative forms

• master-piece (obsolete)

Etymology

From master +‎ piece, a calque of Dutch meesterstuk and/or German Meisterstück (“masterpiece”). Doublet of masterstick. Compare also journeyman's piece.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæstɚˌpis/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːstəˌpiːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

masterpiece (plural masterpieces)

1. A piece of work that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career.
   • 1911, Saki, The Chronicles of Clovis:

     The design, when finally developed, was a slight disappointment to Monsieur Deplis, who had suspected Icarus of being a fortress taken by Wallenstein in the Thirty Years' War, but he was more than satisfied with the execution of the work, which was acclaimed by all who had the privilege of seeing it as Pincini's masterpiece.

2. A work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship.

   Masterpieces are not completed, they are abandoned.

   • 1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter XX, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 221:

     “‘Man is amazing, but he is not a masterpiece,’ he said, keeping his eyes fixed on the glass case. ‘Perhaps the artist was a little mad. […] ’

   • 1951 November, David R. Webb, “The Drummond 4-4-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 774:

     It would hardly be an overstatement to describe Drummond's next design as an outstanding British locomotive class, and possibly his masterpiece.

   • 2023 February 8, Greg Morse, “Crossing the border... by Sleeper”, in RAIL, number 976, page 45:

     It was replaced by a New Euston, "bold in design and layout and in keeping with a new railway era". Betjeman was unmoved, describing it tersely as "no masterpiece" and noting that its lack of platform seating made it an "inhuman structure" which seemed to ignore passengers.

3. A work created in order to qualify as a master craftsman and member of a guild.

Synonyms

• chef d'œuvre
• masterwork

Related terms

• mistresspiece

Translations

piece of work that has been given much critical praise

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Adyghe: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Aghwan: please add this translation if you can
• Aklanon: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: kryevepër (sq) f
• Arabic: تُحْفَة f (tuḥfa), رَائِعَة f (rāʔiʕa)

  Gulf Arabic: تحفة f (tuḥfa)

• Armenian: գլուխգործոց (hy) (gluxgorcocʻ)
• Basque: maisulan
• Belarusian: шэдэ́ўр m (šedéŭr)
• Bulgarian: шедьо́вър (bg) m (šedjóvǎr)
• Catalan: obra mestra f
• Cherokee: ᏭᏓᎪᎾᏛᏛ (wudagonadvdv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傑作／杰作 (zh) (jiézuò), 名作 (zh) (míngzuò)

• Czech: mistrovské dílo n, majstrštyk (cs) m (colloquial)
• Danish: mesterværk n
• Dutch: meesterwerk (nl) n
• Esperanto: majstroverko, ĉefverko
• Finnish: mestariteos (fi)
• French: chef-d’œuvre (fr) m
• Galician: obra mestra f
• German: Meisterstück (de) n, Meisterwerk (de) n
• Greek: αριστούργημα (el) n (aristoúrgima)
• Hebrew: יְצִירַת מוֹפֵת f (yetsirát mofét)
• Hindi: शाहकार (hi) (śāhkār), शहकार (hi) (śahkār), शाहपारा (śāhpārā), शहपारा (śahpārā)
• Hungarian: remekmű (hu)
• Icelandic: meistaraverk n
• Ido: maestroverko (io)
• Indonesian: mahakarya (id)
• Italian: capolavoro (it) m, capodopera m
• Japanese: 傑作 (ja) (けっさく, kessaku), 名作 (ja) (めいさく, meisaku)
• Khmer: ស្នាដៃឯក (snaa day ʼaek)
• Korean: 걸작(傑作) (ko) (geoljak)
• Latin: magnum opus, palmārium n
• Macedonian: ремек-дело n (remek-delo)
• Manx: ard-obbyr f
• Maori: mounga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: шилдэг бүтээл (šildeg büteel)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠢᠯᠢᠳᠡᠭ
  ᠪᠦᠲᠦᠭᠡᠯ (silideg bütügel)

• Norwegian: mesterverk n, mesterstykke n
• Persian: شاهکار (fa) (šâh-kâr), شاه‌اثر (šâh-asar)
• Polish: arcydzieło (pl) n, doskonałość (pl) f, majstersztyk (pl) m
• Portuguese: obra prima f
• Romanian: capodoperă (ro) f
• Russian: шеде́вр (ru) m (šedévr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ремек-дело n

  Roman: remek-delo n

• Slovene: mojstrovina (sl) f
• Spanish: obra maestra f
• Swedish: mästerverk (sv) n
• Tagalog: likhang-guro, akdang-guro
• Tajik: шоҳкор (tg) (šohkor), шоҳасар (šohasar)
• Turkish: şaheser (tr)
• Ukrainian: шеде́вр m (šedévr)
• Vietnamese: kiệt tác (vi) (傑作)
• Welsh: campwaith m, gorchestwaith m
• Yámana: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: מײַסטערווערק n (maysterverk)
• Yucatec Maya: please add this translation if you can
• Yup'ik: please add this translation if you can
• Zazaki: şaheser
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

An outstanding piece of work

• Dutch: meesterwerk (nl) n
• Latin: palmārium n
• Maori: mounga
• Polish: arcydzieło (pl) n, poemat (pl) m, doskonałość (pl) f, majstersztyk (pl) m

work created in order to qualify as a master craftsman and member of a guild

• Dutch: meesterproef (nl) f
• Polish: majstersztyk (pl) m