recherché [ruh-shair-shey, ruh-shair-shey; French ruh-sher-shey]

adjective:
1 very rare, exotic, or choice; arcane; esoteric
2 of studied refinement or elegance; precious; affected; pretentious

Examples:

It is like no eggnog you have ever had, and once you try it, your palate will be far too recherché for the lowly, ready-made sort found ( Read more... )

mélange [mey-lahnzh, -lahnj]

noun:
a mixture sometimes of incongruous elements, a medley

Examples:

Made with a mouliné yarn which twists two colored threads together for a mélange effect, the cardigan is both chunky and cloud-like with a plush, wide shawl collar and tailored fit. (Gerald Ortiz, The Best Cashmere Sweaters for Men Are Literally ( Read more... )

verisimilitude [ ver-uh-si-mil-i-tood, -tyood]

noun:
1 the appearance or semblance of truth
2 something, as an assertion, having merely the appearance of truth

Examples:

He opens the novel with a preface about its source material and adds little details of verisimilitude - footnotes, sketches - throughout. (Loren M Hansen, William Boyd: 40 ( Read more... )

kitty-corner, catty-corner [kit-ee-kawr-ner, kat-ee-kawr-ner ]

adverb or adjective:
in a diagonal position from, especially outward from the corner of a square.

Examples:

A McDonald's is kitty-corner from a Walmart, and Tim Hortons is across the street from AAA. Convenient as it all may sound, this district is not quite real. (Katherine ( Read more... )

miscreant [mis-kree-uhnt]

adjective:
1 depraved, villainous, or base
2 (archaic) holding a false or unorthodox religious belief; heretical

noun:
1 a vicious or depraved person; villain
2 (archaic) a heretic or infidel

Examples:

Over the years, many hundreds of travelers have complained to me about others’ behavior on the roads, rails ( Read more... )

soigné [swahn-yey, swa-nyey]

adjective:
1 Showing sophisticated elegance, fashionable
2 well-groomed, sleek

Examples:

Dalva (Zelda Samson) wears her honey-coloured hair in a soigné updo; her wardrobe consists of little black cocktail dresses and lace. (Wendy Ide, Love According to Dalva review - disturbing but delicately handled French tale ( Read more... )

Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2024

En Masse (noun)
en masse [ahn mas, en; French ahn mas]

adverb
1. in a mass; all together; as a group: The people rushed to the gate en masse.

Idioms and PhrasesIn one group or body; all together. For example, The activists marched en masse to the capitol . This French term, with exactly the same meaning, was adopted into ( Read more... )

Couloir - noun.

Meaning "passage" or "corridor" in French, a couloir is a steep gully found on sides of mountains.


( Read more... )

esprit de l'escalier [es-pree duh le-skahl-yey]

noun:
a perfect comeback or witty remark that one frustratingly comes up with only when the moment for doing so has passed

Examples:

Your esprit de l'escalier doesn't kick in until you're well out the door. (Lauren Collins, Sally Rooney Gets in Your Head, The New Yorker, December 2018)

Here's an ( Read more... )

incarnadine [in-kahr-nuh-dahyn, -din, -deen]

adjective:
1 blood-red; crimson
2 flesh-colored; pale pink
verb:
to make incarnadine, redden

Examples:

Inspired by the dreamlike, incarnadine color schemes of the series' covers, this piece exudes a fresh and fearsome attitude befitting an unapologetic battler of demons and fantastic beasts. ( ( Read more... )