z-listhttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/z-list_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZ-list, n. & adj.
First published 2002

Z-listnoun & adjective

colloquial and disparaging (originally U.S.).
  1. noun
    1. 1979–
      Any (notional) list comprising only the very least celebrated or important members of a particular group; esp. used to emphasize extreme insignificance. Also in extended use.
      1. 1979
        For those who care about the current ‘A’ list and the ‘Z’ list of who's in and out at ‘The Springs’, the Agnews are reportedly living a very private existence.
        Washington Post 25 November F14
      2. 1988
        I must have been on their ‘Z’ list in terms of choices for the role.
        Toronto Star (Nexis) 26 March s11
      3. 2001
        La Défense may have saved central Paris from invasion by office towers, and it looked great by night in Godard's movie Alphaville, yet it suffered, and continues to suffer, from the fact that a Z-list of architects was chosen to design the individual blocks.
        Guardian 19 March ii. 11/2
  2. adjective
    (attributive).
    1. 1985–
      Of or belonging to a Z-list; spec. designating or relating to a (notional) roster of the very least important individuals, esp. in the film or television industry; esp. used to emphasize extreme insignificance.
      1. 1985
        They were up there, plodding through ‘Cover of Rolling Stone’, at some Z-list press torture.
        R. Meltzer, Whore Just like Rest (2000) 3
      2. 1992
        This shared, perverse, out-of-proportion affection for C-, D- and Z-list celebs reveals Stern and Mark and Brian as truly kindred spirits.
        Los Angeles Times (Electronic edition) 27 November
      3. 1994
        The loyalist golfer, A. C. Cowlings, becoming a star on the Z-list party circuit.
        New York Review of Books 22 September 39/2
      4. 2001
        Nobodies, who'd always thought they were somebody, suddenly realising they were nobody, and screaming horribly, as they embarked on their freefall descent into Z-list oblivion.
        Observer 18 March (Life Supplement) 3/1

Z-list, n. & adj. was first published in September 2002.

Z-list, n. & adj. was last modified in March 2025.