Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A French phrase or idiom appearing in another language.
- noun A characteristic French trait.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A form or style of speech peculiar to the French language; the use by an English or other foreign writer or speaker of a form or expression, as a particular sense of a word or manner of phraseology, peculiar to the French language.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A mode of speech peculiar to the French; a French idiom; also, in general, a French mode or custom.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative capitalization of
gallicism
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a word or phrase borrowed from French
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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On the other hand, in The King's English, orient is criticised as a 'Gallicism'.
On being orient(at)ed DC 2010
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On the other hand, in The King's English, orient is criticised as a 'Gallicism'.
Archive 2010-04-01 DC 2010
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We also tossed the narcissistic Gallicism “memoir,” which we decided was a linguistic mongrel of “me” and “moi.”
Last Words George Carlin 2009
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‘Resume’ must be a Gallicism meaning ‘summarize’ — think ‘resume’ (three syllable) meaning ‘summary (of qualifications)’.
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In one of these trimly built cars was a party of four young men whose spirits seemed to be at present well above the level of successful Gallicism: in fact, these four young men were almost hilarious.
Dubliners 2003
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“Another forfeit for a Gallicism,” said a Russian writer who was present.
War and Peace 2003
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Brushing aside the Gallicism of his formal dip at her hand,
Tender is the Night 2003
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Though her English is fluent, I assumed this somewhat peculiar phrase was a Gallicism, and I merely nodded solemnly in agreement.
Winners Banville, John 1991
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English he seemed to write as readily as French, although a strong Gallicism would every now and then slip from his pen, as it slipped from his tongue.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 50, December, 1861 Various
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I shall not discuss the cause of this change in the use of the possessive, though it seems to me an evident Gallicism, nor shall I open the question of whether it is a mere passing fad or the beginning of an actual alteration in the language.
A Librarian's Open Shelf Arthur E. Bostwick
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