arrondissement
Americannoun
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the largest administrative division of a French department, comprising a number of cantons.
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an administrative district of certain large cities in France.
noun
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the largest administrative subdivision of a department
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a municipal district of certain cities, esp Paris
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of arrondissement
1800–10; < French, equivalent to arrondiss- (variant stem of arrondir to round out; see a- 5, round 1) + -ment -ment
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.
Last week police detained 16 people after a swoop at three schools in the 7th arrondissement or district.
From BBC • May 25, 2026
He went to secondary school in the wealthy bourgeois 16th arrondissement of Paris, where he said he felt an uncomfortable outsider, and later attended the elite ENA administration school.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
Go to the Marché des Enfants Rouges in the 3rd arrondissement in Paris for fresh oysters and a cheese plate, or to the Marché des Carmes in Toulouse for some lamb chops and fried scallops.
From Barron's • Mar. 8, 2026
A motorcade of police escorted the 70-year-old from his home in the tony 16th arrondissement to the gates of Paris-La Santé prison in the heart of the French capital.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025
Von Rumpel enters an apartment house in the 5th arrondissement.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
