masterwork

[ mas-ter-wurk, mah-ster- ]

/ ˈmæs tərˌwɜrk, ˈmɑ stər- /

Origin of masterwork

First recorded in 1600–10; master + work

It may be that the leisure of the desert is needed fully to appreciate this master-work.

Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 2 |Charles Dudley Warner
"The Pilgrim's Progress" must be placed among religious literature properly so-called, as being its master-work in England.

The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare |J. J. Jusserand
Mr. Law's master-work, the Serious Call, is still read as a popular and powerful book of devotion.

Memoirs of My Life and Writings |Edward Gibbon
Surely he who did thy carven chin had a mind to a master-work and did no less.

The Water of the Wondrous Isles |William Morris

Schwann was only twenty-nine when his master-work appeared, and the book is clearly the work of a young man.

Form and Function |E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell