soi-disant
Americanadjective
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calling oneself thus; self-styled.
-
so-called or pretended.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of soi-disant
First recorded in 1750–60; from French: literally, “calling oneself”; soi “oneself,” from Latin sē ( see also self ( def. )); disant “saying,” present participle of dire “to say, tell,” from Latin dīcere “to say, speak, tell” ( cf. diction ( def. ))
Explanation
If you refer to yourself as a doctor even though you never actually went to medical school, you are a soi-disant, or self-styled, doctor. Please don't try to operate on anyone. This adjective is a stylish replacement for terms like "so-called," "self-styled," or "would-be." Your friend who appears loud and outgoing everywhere she goes, but describes herself as shy, is a soi-disant shy person. The word is also used in a legal context when the law disagrees with a person's self description, like the soi-disant ruler of a country who has illegally seized power. In French, soi means "oneself," and disant is "saying."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That goes double for soi-disant documentaries that test the viewer's credulity.
From The Guardian • Dec. 16, 2010
Furthermore moneyed Baron Tanaka has persuaded 29 of the Minseito opposition Deputies to bolt their party under Takejiro Tokonami and set themselves up as soi-disant independents.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week they fooled the guessers and went again, beamed from the "Royal Box" of the soi-disant "Theatre Royal in Drury Lane," while a frantic audience waved programs and sang "God Save the King."
From Time Magazine Archive
Just to make assurance doubly ironclad, Secretary of State Frank Billings Kellogg told correspondents that "under no circumstances" would the State Department recognize the soi-disant and really nonexistent Valenzuela government.
From Time Magazine Archive
During all this time had the soi-disant seducer been pressing his suit—though not very boldly, since he too dreaded the frown of that terrible brother—neither successfully: he had not succeeded.
From Osceola the Seminole The Red Fawn of the Flower Land by Reid, Mayne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
