au fond
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of au fond
First recorded in 1780–90
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.
It's often said – even McEwan's friends have said this – that he is, au fond, a brilliant story writer, a sprinter not a marathon runner.
From The Guardian • Aug. 31, 2014
However, au fond, I think we share the same point of view.
From BBC • Jan. 18, 2013
As another Nazi general wrote of Keitel later, "He was certainly not wicked au fond, as one occasionally reads of him."
From Time Magazine Archive
The French response to De Gaulle was strongly emotional, but the French are, au fond, a pre-eminently reasonable rather than sentimental people.
From Time Magazine Archive
What he had said cheered her for the moment, and au fond, at the back of her brain, with her real sound common sense, she did not actually believe in the cause of her grief.
From The Twelfth Hour by Leverson, Ada
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.
