Word.ws English Dictionary

upper crust

upper crust noun: the social elite, the highest social class. Also the alternative form of upper-crust.

Noun

upper crust (plural upper crusts)

  1. (idiomatic, usually) The social elite, the highest social class.
    • I judged from your remark about the diligence and industry of the high Parisian upper crust that it would have some point.1894, Mark Twain, “A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget”, in Essays on Paul Bourget
    • Some accents reveal the distinctive bray of the upper crust, but most are generic middle class.2006 June 18, J. F. O. McAllister, “A New Kind of Elite”, in Time
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see upper, crust. The topmost layer of a bread, pastry dish, or other item with a hardened coating.
    • She went to get her tarts . . . but some one had stolen all the fruit out of them by lifting up the upper crust.1871, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “chapter 20”, in Little Men: […], Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC

Also used as

upper crust is also the alternative form of upper-crust.

Synonyms of upper crust

Forms of upper crust

Noun
pluralupper crusts
Adjective
comparativemore upper crust
superlativemost upper crust

Origin of upper crust

First known use as an idiom: 1836.

Words formed from upper crust

Words that rhyme with upper crust

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about upper crust

What does upper crust mean?
Upper crust means the social elite, the highest social class.
What part of speech is upper crust?
Upper crust is a noun.
What is the plural of upper crust?
The plural of upper crust is upper crusts.

Words near upper crust in the dictionary

  1. Upper Copmanhurst
  2. Upper Corindi
  3. Upper Corris
  4. Upper Corsica
  5. Upper Crater Lake
  6. upper crust
  7. upper crusts
  8. Upper Crystal Creek
  9. upper cut
  10. upper cuts
  11. Upper Dagsian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: upper crust (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-upper crust.ogg.

Cite this entry: “upper crust.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/upper_crust. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.