abbé
noun
(especially in France)
abbé
American
[a-bey, ab-ey, a -bey]
/ æˈbeɪ, ˈæb eɪ, aˈbeɪ /
noun
abbés
plural
abbé
1
British
/ abe, ˈæbeɪ /
noun
-
a French abbot
-
a title used in addressing any other French cleric, such as a priest
Abbe
2
British
/ ˈaːbə, ˈæbɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of abbé
First recorded in 1520–30; from French, Middle French, from Late Latin abbāte(m), accusative of abbās abbot
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:
Morse got most of this story from a book written by a Scottish academic named John Robison, who in turn took many of his ideas from the abbé de Barruel, a French priest.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2022
He even took minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church in 1865, becoming an abbé but appropriately stopping short of the vow of chastity.
From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2011
This smoothness has perhaps a slight tinge of the priestly—for, as Renan first studied for the priesthood, so Dupont-Sommer was once an abbé.
From The New Yorker ● May 6, 1955
The abbé spoke some words to Voltaire, exhorting him to patience.
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 7 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Discussions by Ingersoll, Robert Green
He wished to rest in his own churchyard, and let the abbé Gaultier and the curé de St. Sulpice squabble as to who should have, the honor of his conversion.
From Voltaire: A Sketch of his Life and Works by Foote, G. W. (George William)
Hudson Abbe and Sean Downs each hit home runs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
During Friday's hearing, one of Lemon's lawyers, Abbe Lowell, expressed concerns to the judge that investigators had taken Lemon's mobile phone when they arrested him in Los Angeles late last month, according to US media.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
In a statement after his client’s arrest, Mr. Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, invoked Mr. Lemon’s First Amendment right:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Lemon was in Los Angeles to cover the upcoming Grammy Awards when he was apprehended in a hotel lobby late Thursday night.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2026
He quitted the Seminary and became a professor in the College of the Assumption at Nimes, an institution established by the Abbe d'Alzon, founder of the religious order of the Assumptionists.
From The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-christianism in Europe by Cunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
In the literary coteries of the capital, in the incipient French Academy, over which the Protestant Conrart presided, abbés and pastors were reconciled in common admiration for an elegant alexandrine or a correct period.
From The Anglo-French Entente in the Seventeenth Century by Bastide, Charles
The young abbés and priests were very good fellows, earnest believers, but so simple that conversations with them were only interesting because of their ignorance and lack of understanding.
From Recollections of My Childhood and Youth by Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen
Thither went Madame de Sablé herself, finally,—"the late Madame," as the dashing young abbés called her when she renounced the world.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 09, July, 1858 by Various
In 1883, in Savoy, the oil of which I have spoken was prepared in a group of defrocked abbés.
From Là-bas by Wallace, Keene
When the mobilization orders were issued, the call to the colours was sent to young curés and abbés throughout the country, and to monks belonging to religious orders banished by its politicians.
From The Soul of the War by Gibbs, Philip
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.
