Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- A fine genius or man of wit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A fine genius, or man of wit.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a witty or clever person with a fine mind
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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If by chance the wife of a receiver-general of finances was to have this chapter read at her toilette by the bel-esprit of the house, she would have a strange contempt for the Romans of the three first centuries, and would not allow a Manlius, Curius, or Fabius to enter her antechamber, should he come on foot, and not have wherewithal to take his part at play.
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“And that father of hers, with his doubtful past and his cruelties, and the bel-esprit her mother, with her doubtful reputation.”
Resurrection 2003
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Madame de Pompadour joked my companion about her 'bel-esprit', but sometimes she reposed confidence in her.
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Madame de Pompadour joked my companion about her 'bel-esprit', but sometimes she reposed confidence in her.
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Madame de Pompadour joked my companion about her 'bel-esprit', but sometimes she reposed confidence in her.
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He is our best number here, a bel-esprit and an original, but especially a man of soul, which is after all the chief thing.
The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 12 Various
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Moreover, he was a bel-esprit, writing epilogues and prologues, and was at one time the observed of all observers.
The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope — Volume 1 A. M. W. [Compiler] Stirling
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He was a statesman, a bel-esprit, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur.
A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden 2nd edition William A. Ross
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The author desires to entertain as much as to teach, the thinker is also a bel-esprit, the jurisconsult has a touch of the coxcomb, and a perfumed breath from the temple of Venus has penetrated the tribunal of Minos.
Amiel's Journal Henri Fr��d��ric Amiel 1885
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She has a clear complexion, is young, tall; her manners are doucereuses, for, besides being a beauty, she has pretensions, I understand, to bel-esprit.
Robert Orange Being a Continuation of the History of Robert Orange John Oliver Hobbes 1886
dogdoc commented on the word bel-esprit
a person of great wit or intellect
May 21, 2024