Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Too much or too many; excessive or superfluous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Literally, too much; hence, in the way; not wanted: applied to a person whose presence is inconvenient: as, he saw he was de trop, and therefore retired.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective excessive or superfluous

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French : de, of, in + trop, excess.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French de ("of") + trop ("too much")

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Examples

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Comments

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  • "Last year I was in the Provence region of France, and while I wrote about hiking across the Petit Luberon massif, I claimed that I’d cried off climbing the premier peak in the vicinity — the 1,914-meter (6,279.5 feet) Mont Ventoux — because to do so would be de trop."

    The New York Times, Garment District, by Will Self, August 26, 2008

    August 28, 2008

  • From the book Magician's Land: "I was going to say, 'Consider yourself annexed, bitch!' or something like that, but sometimes an exit line just feels de trop, you know?"

    Last page of chapter 12. No page numbers in the ebook, only a percentage - 40% complete.

    September 24, 2014

  • "You're a rose,

    You're Inferno's Dante,

    You're the nose

    On the great Durante.

    I'm just in the way,

    As the French would say, "de trop".

    But if, baby, I'm the bottom,

    You're the top!"

    --from "You're the Top!" by Cole Porter

    September 24, 2014