Balzac

American

[bawl-zak, bal-, bal-zak] / ˈbɔl zæk, ˈbæl-, balˈzak /

noun

Honoré de 1799–1850, French novelist.

Balzac British

/ ˈbælzæk, balzak /

noun

Honoré de (ɔnɔre də). 1799–1850, French novelist: author of a collection of novels under the general title La Comédie humaine , including Eugénie Grandet (1833), Le Père Goriot (1834), and La Cousine Bette (1846)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Honoré de Balzac once warned that collecting was driven by a “jealous demon.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025

At an elevation, he looked like a haggard Rodin bust of Balzac.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2023

The academy noted that Oe’s work has been strongly influenced by Western writers, including Dante, Poe, Rabelais, Balzac, Eliot and Sartre.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2023

Honoré de Balzac of France depicted the seedy side of life in French cities, often focusing on stories of crime.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

I was so taken by Balzac that, in my imagination, I gave him a typewriter so that we would have more in common.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023