This week’s theme
Terms borrowed from French

This week’s words
politesse
laissez-faire
de rigueur
soi-disant
laissez-aller

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(swa-dee-ZAN)

MEANING:

adjective: Self-styled; so-called.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French soi-disant (self-styled, so-called) from soi (oneself) + disant (saying). Earliest documented use: 1752.

USAGE:

“For some reason, the soi-disant ‘entertainment capital of the world’ has never been able to sustain a resident [ballet] company.”
Patt Diroll; A Step Ahead for Ballet; Pasadena Star-News (California); May 25, 2009.

“Hannah turns to the suspiciously handsome soi-disant geek.”
Virginia Heffernan; Really, Mom, We’re Just Going Out for Ice Cream; The New York Times; Feb 16, 2004.

See more usage examples of soi-disant in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: