bel esprit
a person of great wit or intellect: He found this charming bel esprit, not among his university colleagues, but in the person of a young widow on the outskirts of town.
Origin of bel esprit
1- Sometimes bel-es·prit .
Words Nearby bel esprit
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bel esprit in a sentence
What we commonly understand in French by "esprit," "bel-esprit," "trait d'esprit," are—ingenious thoughts.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (of 10) | Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)One evening he took me with him to a literary renion, at which every bel-esprit of the capital was to be present.
Madame de Pompadour joked my companion about her 'bel-esprit', but sometimes she reposed confidence in her.
The Secret Memoirs of Louis XV./XVI, Complete | Madame du Hausset, an "Unknown English Girl" and the Princess LamballeThere was the blue-stocking lady, a mature belle and bel-esprit.
Life Without and Life Within | Margaret FullerWell might the weary courtiers cry out against les galeres du bel esprit.
The Women of the French Salons | Amelia Gere Mason
British Dictionary definitions for bel esprit
/ French (bɛl ɛspri) /
a witty or clever person
Origin of bel esprit
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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