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who's who

noun

a reference work containing short biographical entries on the outstanding persons in a country, industry, profession, etc.:
a who's who in automotive engineering.
the outstanding or influential persons in a community, industry, profession, or other group:
The who's who of racing will be there.

who's who

noun

a book or list containing the names and short biographies of famous people

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Word History and Origins

Origin of who's who¹

First recorded in 1840–50

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Idioms and Phrases

The outstanding or best-known individuals of a group, as in Tonight's concert features a veritable who's who of musicians . This expression comes from the name of a famous reference work, Who's Who , first published in 1849, which contains biographical sketches of famous individuals and is regularly updated. Its name in turn was based on who is who , that is, the identity of each of a number of persons, a phrase dating from the late 1300s. [Early 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

It’s a who’s who of players who have been great in youth softball and college softball.

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"I will research and look into who's who," he added.

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The donors are often a who’s who of local corporate elites, often with business before the city.

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There was no NFL team in Los Angeles at the time, and Carroll’s sidelines were always a who’s who of the entertainment industry.

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While Mexican crime lords do wield their own militias which occasionally engage the armed forces in open combat – sometimes even wearing their own uniforms and insignia – for the most part they’re more like insurgents than regular armies, deeply embedded in local communities, where it’s not always obvious who’s who.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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