a tour de force

tour de force

An exceptionally masterful performance or achievement, especially in the arts. The director's latest movie is a tour de force of filmmaking. The Olympic gymnast's final routine was a tour de force that earned her a gold medal.
See also: DE, force, tour
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a tour de ˈforce

(from French) an extremely skilful performance or achievement: a literary/cinematic tour de force
This is a French phrase that means ‘an act of strength’.
See also: DE, force, tour
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • tour de force
  • a whale of a
  • with flying colors, pass with
  • come through (something) with flying colors
  • pass with flying colors
  • pass with flying colours
  • run (someone or something) close
  • run somebody/something close
  • run someone close
  • come through
References in periodicals archive
The late Michel Simonin contributes a tour de force reading of the 1586 "Affaire Le Breton" that makes evident yet again what the profession has lost with his passing.
Devis d'amitie: Melanges en l'honneur de Nicole Cazauran
This work is a tour de force and a tour de sources.
Frenchmen into Peasants: Modernity and Tradition in the Peopling of French Canada
In Poll's Tristeza, his remembrance of German modern dancer Dore Hoyer, Hayes did engage that sense of weight in a tour de force solo that evoked the fierce expression and stunning clarity of 1930s modem dance,
Ohio Ballet, Joyce Theater, New York, New York, February 10-15, 1998
A tour de force, Creating French Culture: Treasures from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France is the catalogue produced in concert with an exhibition - one in a series at the Library of Congress intended to celebrate the holdings of the great libraries of the world - held in the Fall of 1995.
Creating French Culture: Treasures from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France
That was not the case with Contrabajissimo (1987), Sappington's hallmark solo for Holder that assimilates many of his onstage idiosyncracies into a tour de force of theatrical dancing.
Ballet: The Daring Project