roué

[roo-ey, roo-ey]

noun

1. a dissolute and licentious man; rake.

   Synonyms: rakehell, bounder, cad, lecher, libertine, profligate

roué

/ ˈruːeɪ /

noun

1. a debauched or lecherous man; rake

Word History and Origins

Origin of roué¹

1790–1800; < French, noun use of past participle of rouer to break on the wheel (derivative of roue wheel ≪ Latin rota ); name first applied to the profligate companions of the Duc d'Orléans (c1720)

Word History and Origins

Origin of roué¹

C19: from French, literally: one broken on the wheel, from rouer , from Latin rotāre to revolve, from rota a wheel; with reference to the fate deserved by a debauchee

Example Sentences

Interrupting his trial, the jazzy “Come Up to My Office” imagines Frank wholly out of character as a suave roué.

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To be sure, the familiar conventions of romance literature are here in abundance: the aristocratic curled lip, the languid glance, sparkling eyes and a middle-aged blue-blood roué reformed by a plucky young woman.

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Gardiner’s supporting cast lays a buoyant foundation for the evening’s entertaining dynamics: Bobby Smith’s Sipos, the shop’s supplicating bundle of nerves; Maria Rizzo’s Ilona, serial dater of all the wrong men; Emmanuel Elliot Key, portraying Arpad, the eager-beaver delivery boy; Jake Loewenthal’s Kodaly, the office roué.

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The couple were thus revealed to me clearly: both removed their cloaks, and there was ‘the Varens,’ shining in satin and jewels,—my gifts of course,—and there was her companion in an officer’s uniform; and I knew him for a young roué of a vicomte—a brainless and vicious youth whom I had sometimes met in society, and had never thought of hating because I despised him so absolutely.

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Marseille, France, for its beautiful beaches and the Grande Roue de Marseille.

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