bel-esprit
[bel-es-pree]
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noun, plural beaux-es·prits [boh-zes-pree] /boʊ zɛsˈpri/. French.
a person of great wit or intellect.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for bel-esprit
Historical Examples of bel-esprit
There was the blue-stocking lady, a mature belle and bel-esprit.
Life Without and Life WithinMargaret Fuller
He was a statesman, a bel-esprit, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur.
The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)Walter Thornbury
And that father of hers, with his doubtful past and his cruelties, and the bel-esprit her mother, with her doubtful reputation.
ResurrectionLeo Tolstoy
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.