Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
sudden unexpected event, especially anemotional one;love at first sight .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French coup de foudre.
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Examples
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Prolagus commented on the word coup de foudre
Colpo di fulmine in Italian.
January 1, 2009
garyth123 commented on the word coup de foudre
And how does it translate into English? (The internet is not very clear on answering the question.)
January 1, 2009
Prolagus commented on the word coup de foudre
"Stroke of lightning" = love at first sight.
January 1, 2009
rolig commented on the word coup de foudre
Prolagus is right (and we also say "a bolt of lightning"), but you do not necessarily need to translate this expression. Although not common, the phrase coup de foudre, which is found in English dictionaries, could be used as it is in a sophisticated English text just as we use other French expressions (e.g. pièce de la résistance, coup de grâce, par excellance) in English.
January 1, 2009
garyth123 commented on the word coup de foudre
The Guardian used it today in connection with Harold Pinter and a poem he wrote for his wife Antonia Fraser and his first meeting her. It is here
I didn't know what foudre meant.
January 1, 2009
runonmaven commented on the word coup de foudre
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861694323/coup_de_foudre.html
September 19, 2009
john commented on the word coup de foudre
“Ms. Hunter first told the tale of her campaign coup de foudre (“a magnetic force”) and the resulting daughter, now 2, in an interview in the April issue of GQ that was illustrated with sexy pin-up shots of Ms. Hunter lying on a bed in pearls, a white shirt and no pants.”
The New York Times, One Woman’s ‘Truth’: Rielle Hunter Talks to Oprah, by Alessandra Stanley, April 29, 2010
April 30, 2010
bilby commented on the word coup de foudre
Collage.
September 27, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word coup de foudre
Nice find, bilby.
September 27, 2011
vendingmachine commented on the word coup de foudre
"Painful for the publisher, who shells out a fortune in the hope of a recoup that rarely occurs; painful for the writer, who hasn't bargained for the inflated expectations that follow adulation; and painful for the reader, whose coup de foudre is unlikely to survive the second date."
June 29, 2015