caviar
- 01 C2 Proficiency
something that is very high-quality or artistic, but which most people do not understand or enjoy.
something considered too sophisticated, refined, or intellectual for the taste of the general public.
Simple“His complex poetry was caviar to the general public, who preferred simpler stories.”
In context“The director's latest avant-garde film proved to be caviar to the general, receiving praise from critics but failing at the box office.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is often used in the idiom 'caviar to the general', which comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Borrowed from Middle French caviar, from Venetan caviaro (earlier found as Italian caviale), probably by way of Ottoman Turkish خاویار (havyar), from Classical Persian خَاوْیَار (xāwyār). Doublet of ajvar.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.