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Jul 12, 2007

This week's theme
Words about diplomacy

This week's words
detente
plenipotentiary
extraterritoriality
demarche
identic

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demarche

noun: A course of action, especially a diplomatic petition or protest.

From French démarche (gait). Ultimately from the Indo-European root merg- (border) that's also the source of marquee, margin, march, mark, and remark.

"Beijing sent Canberra a formal diplomatic protest in May -- not about the Dalai Lama but over a perception that Australia, the US, Japan and India are cobbling together a security alliance to contain China. The Chinese demarche is an acute example of the type of problem Australian policymakers will continue to face."
Great and Powerful -- But is China Our Friend?; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Jun 18, 2007.

See more usage examples of demarche in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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