Definition of "first-class" []

• Constituting or belonging to the first, highest, or best group in a system of classification: a first-class hotel; first-class mail. (adjective)
• Of the foremost excellence or highest quality; first-rate: a first-class mind. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "However, the University of Ottawa law professor expressed surprise that Gen. Ménard, whom he described as a "first-class field commander," was subject to a court martial."
• "In non-white South African cricket, on rough pitches usually of matting, D'Oliveira hit 80 centuries before trying for better luck abroad: had he spent the first 15 years of his adulthood in English first-class cricket he could have scored a similar number of first-class hundreds, in addition to the 43 he actually made."
• "In subsequent speeches, as well as in an advice column he began writing for Ebony in 1957 and in a book he published the following year, King endorsed Christian self-abnegation as a means to attain “first-class citizenship.”"