A.Word.A.Day--enfant terrible

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The Magic of Words

Sep 1, 2010

This week's theme
Terms from French

This week's words
agent provocateur
decolletage
enfant terrible

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

enfant terrible

PRONUNCIATION:

(ahn*-fahn* te-REE-bluh)

[* these syllables are nasal]
plural enfants terribles (ahn*-fahn* te-REE-bluh)

MEANING:

noun: A person, especially someone famous or successful, whose unconventional lifestyle, work, or behavior appears shocking.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French enfant terrible (terrible child).

USAGE:

"Once an enfant terrible, who as a young filmmaker challenged censors and outraged conservative critics, Koji Wakamatsu has not mellowed so much as ripened."
Mark Schilling; All's Unfair in Love and War; The Japan Times (Tokyo); Aug 13, 2010.

Explore "enfant terrible" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both. -Horace Mann, educational reformer (1796-1859)

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