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Pièce de résistance is a French term meaning the highlight or most impressive thing. It was first used in English in the mid-19th century to describe the final dish of a meal. It can also be used to describe the highlight of a collection, an actor’s performance, or a memorable moment. It can be used sarcastically to describe a bad experience.
If you are looking at the French term, pièce de résistance, it is first of all valuable to know how to pronounce it. It shouldn’t be pronounced the way you pronounce piece and drag in English. Instead the first word should sound similar to pee, de should be pronounced as duh, and resistance is best pronounced as ree-sist-tahnse. The term is a straight steal from French, first used in English in the mid-19th century, which literally means piece of resistance, which does little to explain it as an idiomatic expression.
The word resistance gives us some clues as to the meaning of the sentence, in the sense that resistance can mean holding something back. A sentence like “She managed to resist telling him all the new gossip” is the sense in which resistance in pièce de résistance should be understood. When first used, it meant the high point or final part of a meal.
While you might delight your guests with many fine dishes, keep one final, hugely impressive dish as the pièce de résistance. This would be something that would take extraordinary time, effort and skill to produce and should or hopefully should completely wow your guests. It would be foolish to start a meal with the best dish, as nothing else could compare to the awesomeness of it. Instead the final dish or dessert, such as chocolate soufflés or a twelve-layer cake, would be the centerpiece.
Since its original use, the phrase has become the highlight, the ultimate thing, the most impressive thing, or the most memorable thing. This can be true for collections, where a certain piece in the collection is much more favorable than the others being older, more beautiful and rarer. It could also be used in the context of describing an actor’s performance, a particular scene in a play or film, or an aria in an opera that is absolutely outstanding and memorable.
Sometimes people use the term to describe the highlight of a day or the highlight of a career. Alan Alda could be described as a terrific actor, but his pièce de résistance, or his most memorable performance, will probably be remembered as his work in the M*A*S*H series. There is occasionally a discussion as to which work by an artist constitutes the pièce de résistance.
Occasionally, the phrase can be used sarcastically to describe not the best but the worst part of a day. A person might describe a terrible day at work and end up with the following: “But the highlight was when my boss told me I had to work overtime for the next six weekends.” In this case, the phrase is used to mean memorably bad instead of memorably good.
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