auteur
Americannoun
-
auteurs
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of auteur
1960–65; < French: literally, author, originator < Latin auctor. See author
Explanation
If you're an auteur, you make movies that show off your personal style and vision, and you make those movies exactly the way you want: you won’t let any studio executives force you to change the ending. The word auteur came into English from the French word of the same name, meaning literally “author.” If you’re an auteur, you are truly the author of your own movie. Most movies have a lot of different people contributing to the final product, but an auteur insists on having the final say, and hates it when her vision is compromised. The word even has an uppity feel and sound to it. Pronounce it "oh-TUR."
Vocabulary lists containing auteur
English Words Derived from French, List 9
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Ten Words from The New York Times - June 26, 2013
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Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim
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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:
The second-place Silver Lion went to "Possible Love", a poignant relationship study by South Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong, which was one of the most highly praised movies of the festival.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
France's Culture Minister Catherine Pegard paid tribute to Altmayer as a "producer with a keen eye, capable of bringing together popular comedy and auteur ambition with the same accuracy".
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Call it Bluegrass Noir, and Busby the doomed auteur living out his songs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
They wanted “Animal House,” and he thought he was entering his auteur period.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Relevant here, of course, is Foucault’s famous discussion of the author function: ‘Qu’est-ce qu’un auteur?’
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Meanwhile major auteurs of a previous generation scored commercial comebacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Fukada, whose previous films include "Harmonium" and last year's "Love on Trial" about J-pop stars, counters that record revenue figures for the Japanese box office last year disguise struggles for independent auteurs like him.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
These are times so surreal that even one of cinema’s most nostalgia-obsessed auteurs felt compelled to return to the present, if only to offer some sympathy.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2025
From Ritwik Ghatak to Satyajit Ray to Mrinal Sen, Bengal has produced many globally celebrated auteurs.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025
The work of M. Théodore Reinach, Textes des auteurs grecs et romains rélatifs au judaisme, is a very useful collection of the pagan accounts of Jewish life which Josephus was seeking to refute.
From Josephus by Norman Bentwich
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
