aperçu
Americannoun
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aperçus
plural
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a hasty glance; a glimpse.
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an immediate estimate or judgment; perception; insight.
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an outline or summary.
noun
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an outline; summary
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an insight
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of aperçu
First recorded in 1825–30; from French: literally, “perceived”; past participle of the verb apercevoir
Explanation
An apercu is a brief, clever review or summation of something. If your synopsis of last week's episode of your favorite TV show is funny and sharp, you can call it an apercu. Sometimes an apercu is simply a witty comment or a clever anecdote: "He is so fun at parties because he always comes up with such brilliant apercus." The word is often spelled with a cedilla, a French accent that softens the C so that it's pronounced like an S: aperçu. The word is from the French apercevoir, "to perceive."
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.
See Examples For:
I guess we could fault Caleb for this aperçu, but in a novel that purports to be about the slippery idea of authorship, let’s blame Lipstein.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2022
“It’s an aperçu of Alex Trebek, human being. What is he like? What has he done? How did he screw up? Things like that.”
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2020
That was another aperçu by Mr. Perez, as he examined the off-concept, and relatively gadget-free, “Quantum of Solace.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 25, 2010
If I were to recast Montaigne's aperçu it would be thus: "Mistrust a man who takes games too seriously; it means he may be incapable of taking life seriously enough."
From The Guardian ● Sep. 24, 2010
The word aperçu my father used to object to.
From The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Volume 1 by Augustus J. C. Hare
Herzen’s character sketches and aperçus amount to an intellectual and political history of Russia and Western Europe in the first two-thirds of the 19th century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Reproduced in Pinckney’s new memoir, “Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan,” those aperçus, which belong in some kind of literary hall of fame, include:
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2022
There are so many scintillating aperçus in Daub’s book that I gave up underlining.
From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2020
But Jared’s unforced drollery and naive aperçus resemble nothing so much as late-period Vonnegut.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2020
I remember a number of literary projects, if I may so call them, or aperçus of things which I might have written if I had time or capacity so to do.
From The Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth, Volume 1 by Augustus J. C. Hare
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
