pres|tige

pres|tige «prehs TEEZH, PREHS tihj», noun, adjective.

–n.

reputation, influence, or distinction based on what is known of one's abilities, achievements, opportunities, or associations: »

His prestige rose when the boys learned that his father was a ship's captain. After Napoleon's first battles, prestige did half his work for him (George Meredith). Thus it happened that while by the end of the reign the power of the sovereign had appreciably diminished, the prestige of the sovereign had enormously grown. (Lytton Strachey).

–adj.

prestigious: »

Founding a prestige college is almost like trying for artificially aged wine (New York Times).

╂[< Middle French prestige illusion, magic spell, (in plural) juggler's tricks, learned borrowing from Latin praestīgiae, plural]