Arc de Triomphe

American  

[ark duh tree-awnf] / ark də triˈɔ̃f /

noun

1. an arch, located in Paris, begun in 1806 by Napoleon in honor of his victorious armies and completed in 1836. The unknown soldier of France and an eternal flame were placed beneath the arch after World War I.

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Arc de Triomphe British  

/ ark də trijɔ̃f, ˈɑːk də ˈtriːəʊmf /

noun

1. the triumphal arch in Paris begun by Napoleon I to commemorate his victories of 1805–6 and completed in 1836

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Etymology

Origin of Arc de Triomphe

First recorded in 1810–20; from French: “arch of triumph”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Arc de Triomphe

France paraded its military arsenal from the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

The Ride for Rori saw them cycling non-stop from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to Marble Arch in London.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

I’m sipping coffee out of my “embarrassing” Starbucks mug as I write this and thinking about the climb up the Arc de Triomphe with my daughter on her first visit last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

But there’s only one existing triumphal arch that was deliberately constructed to be bigger than the Arc de Triomphe.

From Salon ● May 3, 2026

To appreciate what has been lost in twenty-three centuries, imagine a certain city in north-central France—and take away the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Sorbonne, the Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon’s Tomb, and Notre Dame.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro