A.Word.A.Day --roman-fleuve

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roman-fleuve

PRONUNCIATION:

(roe-MAAN*-fluhv)

[* the middle syllable is nasal]

MEANING:

noun: A long novel, often in several volumes, that tells the story of an individual, family, or society across several generations.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French roman (novel) + fleuve (river). Earliest documented use: 1936. Plural romans-fleuves.

USAGE:

"And it'd be a shame to miss out on the delights of the roman-fleuve as summer reading: there's a thrill in buying 12 volumes to read end-to-end."
Tim Martin; I'll be Joining the Dance Online; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); May 17, 2008.

See more usage examples of roman-fleuve in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

But what then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life. -Albert Camus, writer, philosopher, Nobel laureate (1913-1960)

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