Word.ws English Dictionary

man of parts

man of parts noun: a man who is talented in multiple areas of life.

Noun

man of parts (plural men of parts)

  1. (idiomatic) A man who is talented in multiple areas of life.
    • He was a fellow of parts, quick, humorous, a clever painter, and with an eye for certain poetical effects of sea and ships.1881, R.L. Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque
    • To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.1891, Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

Forms of man of parts

pluralmen of parts

Origin of man of parts

The phrase saw much use in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, especially in England.

Questions about man of parts

What does man of parts mean?
Man of parts means a man who is talented in multiple areas of life.
What part of speech is man of parts?
Man of parts is a noun.
What is the plural of man of parts?
The plural of man of parts is men of parts.

Words near man of parts in the dictionary

  1. man of Kent
  2. man of law
  3. man of letters
  4. man of many parts
  5. man of means
  6. man of parts
  7. man of sin
  8. Man of Steel
  9. man of straw
  10. man of the cloth
  11. man of the earth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: man of parts (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-man of parts.ogg.

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