arrière-pensée
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of arrière-pensée
C19: literally: behind thought
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.
The latter, at last, answered him, not condescendingly, as Alyosha had feared, but with modesty and reserve, with evident goodwill and apparently without the slightest arrière-pensée.
From The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
The Girondists alone had an arrière-pensée in their apparent favour towards him.
From History of the Girondists, Volume I Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution by Ryde, H. T.
And I watched him tip the waiter without the least arrière-pensée on either side.
From Mr. Justice Raffles by Hornung, E. W. (Ernest William)
Nor was there any warrant for imputing to him dishonesty of purpose or arrière-pensée.
From The Life of William Ewart Gladstone (Vol 2 of 3) by Morley, John
He possessed a virtue rare among artists, that of gratitude without arrière-pensée.
From Human, All-Too-Human, Part II by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
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.
