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Meaning & use

hi flyer

noun·Advancedinformal

Last updated

UK/ˌhaɪ ˈflaɪə/
US/ˌhaɪ ˈflaɪər/

Meanings

  1. nouncountableinformal

    a person who is very successful or ambitious in their career and is expected to go far

    Grammar: Countable: one hi flyer, two hi flyers. Often used with 'young' or 'corporate'.

    Patterns

    • a young hi flyer
    • a corporate hi flyer
    • be seen as a hi flyer

    She was a hi flyer at the bank and was promoted twice in a year.

    The company sends its hi flyers on a special leadership course.

  2. nouncountableinformalbusiness

    a stock or company that rises quickly in value or performs much better than others

    Grammar: Countable; common in business and financial news.

    Patterns

    • a stock-market hi flyer
    • a hi flyer in the tech sector

    The fund's hi flyers lost value when the market fell.

    Investors chased hi flyers and ignored safer shares.

Word forms

pluralhi flyers

Common combinations

a young hi flyer
He was a young hi flyer when the firm hired him.
corporate hi flyer
She is a corporate hi flyer with a corner office.
one of the hi flyers
He is one of the hi flyers in the sales team.
a hi flyer in finance
She became a hi flyer in finance before she was thirty.

Synonyms and how they differ

high achiever
Neutral and often used in education; it stresses results rather than the glamour or ambition of a hi flyer.
rising star
Focuses on someone whose career is quickly moving upward and is often used in the media; a hi flyer can also be already established.
whiz kid
Informal and stresses youth and impressive skill, especially in business or technology; hi flyer stresses career success.

Opposites

underachieverfailure

Word family

high-flying adjective
Successful or ambitious, as in 'a high-flying lawyer'.
fly verb
To move through the air; the base of the image in hi flyer.

Commonly confused: hi flyer or highflier?

hi flyer vs highflier

This is another spelling of the same word, not a different word; 'high-flyer' with a hyphen is the most common form.

Practice

The company's new marketing director is a real ______; she's already been offered a job abroad.

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