ADJ.
contemporary, right
VERB + FIRST-RATE
getting, played, smoke
FIRST-RATE + NOUN
basketball, body, company, hospital, novelist, scientist, something, writer
PREP.
after, on
ADV.
only, really
adj
Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having at least 100 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 850–875, and weighing approximately 2,500 tons burthen.
Superb, exceptional; of the best sort; very high quality.
Our only first-rate body of contemporary poetry is the German.
He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
noun
A first-rate ship of the line.
Our only first-rate body of contemporary poetry is the German.
WiktionaryHe used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he
Wiktionary"I once did something right. I played first-rate basketball. I really did. And after you're first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate."
WiktionaryWe are getting on first-rate.
Tatoeba · #23141It is no exaggeration to say that he is a first-rate writer.
Tatoeba · #293843They looked on the writer as first-rate.
Tatoeba · #305770i Register
In some senses, first-rate is marked as UK, historical, idiomatic. Watch for register when choosing this word.