raison d'être

American  

[rey-zohn de-truh, re-zawn de-tr^uh] / ˈreɪ zoʊn ˈdɛ trə, rɛ zɔ̃ ˈdɛ trə /

noun

• raisons d'être
  plural

1. reason or justification for being or existence.

   Art is the artist's raison d'être.

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raison d'être British  

/ rɛzɔ̃ dɛtrə /

noun

1. reason or justification for existence

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raison d'être Cultural  

1. A basic, essential purpose; a reason to exist: “Professor Naylor argues that in the nuclear age, infantry forces have lost their raison d'être.” From French, meaning “reason for being.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• raisons d'être
  plural

Etymology

Origin of raison d'être

Borrowed into English from French around 1865–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

raison d'être

It is also working to build the type of cutting-edge AI agents that some investors think threaten its entire raison d’être.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

Not far away, at Pepa Bar a Vins, irreverence was the raison d’être.

From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2025

Fundamentally, the format's raison d'être is now under question.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025

“His whole raison d’être is to enhance the industry that’s given him so much and bring people in, bring them back to theaters. And I just applaud that on my feet.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2025

And its worst result was the hopeless self-abandonment and sluggish cowardice of a class, whose chief raison d’être in every age is to maintain a tradition of gallant dignity.

From Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius by Samuel Dill