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French terms

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rapporteur
amour-propre
esprit de corps
chef-d'oeuvre
savoir-faire

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

savoir-faire

PRONUNCIATION:
(SAV-wahr-fayr)

MEANING:
noun: The ability to say or do the right thing in any situation; tact.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French savoir-faire (know-how), from savoir (to know) + faire (to do).

USAGE:
"In a cascade of thanks, C.S. Richardson bows gracefully to all those elegant Londoners, full of savoir faire."
Peter Wells; The A to Z of Life; New Zealand Herald (Auckland); Jul 7, 2008.

See more usage examples of savoir-faire in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)

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