Meaning of who's who | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A publication containing biographies of well-known or important people.
   capitalized, countable, sometimes
2. A list of notable, famous, or upper-class people.
   countable
3. Collectively, the elite class.
   uncountable
4. A person appearing in a Who's Who publication.
   countable
5. A celebrity or famous person, someone likely to be in such a publication.
   countable
6. The identities of specific people, understood in terms of such distinguishing characteristics as their backgrounds, prominence, achievements, jobs, etc., as a basis for comparing them and especially as a basis for ranking them within a social group.
   idiomatic, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Nearly every country has now a Who's Who, which gives a brief outline of the life and work of living men who have distinguished themselves in various ways.”

“But when a living person's profession or vocation is known, it is well to consult first a biographical dictionary in that field, for it often contains more names than the more general who's whos.”

“In the growing who's who of Negro educators, the name of Cleo W. Blackburn, 45, ranks high.”

“Mr. Clinton's candidates, a veritable who's who of New York Democrats, include Carol Bellamy, the former City Council president; Sandra Feldman, head of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, and Representative Gary L. Ackerman of Queens.”

“With glittering names from a who's who of Australian art on her walls she would laugh: "Not just glittering names, glittering examples of their work, too."”

“Sixty-one From Wisconsin Make Debut as Who's Whos [headline]:”

“Mrs. Falconer cannot well avoid asking you to some of her entertainments, and it will be pleasant to you to know who's who beforehand.”

“"Milly, it's true," she said, to be exact, "has no natural sense of social values, doesn't in the least understand our differences or know who's who or what's what."”

“"I'll learn 'im to insult a respectable British tradesman. I'll show him who's who."”

“Readers will conjure up many a conjecture over who's who in this literary gallery.”

CEFR level