Supreme

How to spell supreme

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce supreme

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does supreme mean?

1. adjectiveHighest in rank, authority, importance, or quality.

Supreme in a sentence

• The council holds supreme authority over local planning decisions.

• Winning the contract gave the firm supreme confidence going into the next quarter.

Where does supreme come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes directly from the Latin supremus, meaning 'highest' or 'topmost', which is the superlative form of superus, an adjective meaning 'situated above'. That family in turn grows from the preposition and prefix super, meaning 'above' or 'over', the same element that gives English words like superior and supersede. English adopted supreme in the early 1500s, at first in the literal sense of the loftiest position or the highest authority, and the figurative sense of unmatched quality followed soon after. The spelling trap is the ending: the long 'ee' sound is written 'eme', not 'eam' or 'ene', and the single 'p' rather than a doubled one trips some writers who expect a heavier consonant. Knowing that the root is the airy super 'above' rather than anything to do with 'seam' or 'team' helps fix the unusual '-eme' tail in the memory.

How the word is built

• supr- (from Latin supremus: highest)
• -eme (superlative ending)