belle époque

American  

[bel ey-pawk] / ˈbɛl eɪˈpɔk /

Or Belle Époque

noun

French.

belles époques plural

1. the period (1871–1914) between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and the outbreak of World War I, characterized by relative peacefulness in Western Europe and by marked advances and productivity in the arts, literature, technology, etc.

---

belle époque British  

/ bɛl epɔk /

noun

1. the period of comfortable well-established life in Europe before World War I

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• belles époques
  plural

Etymology

Origin of belle époque

Literally, “beautiful epoch”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

belle époque

In Argentina, Corradi initially taught at a Provolo Institute for the Deaf in La Plata, a provincial city an hour’s drive from the belle époque buildings of Buenos Aires.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2019

Despite the modernity, Clark somehow pulls a baroque pop gem out of nowhere with Paris is Burning, a song as effulgent as the belle époque itself, with a cascading waltz outro .

From The Guardian ● Jul. 1, 2015

The actress has energy to spare, but the performance is emotionally vacant, a major problem for a show by its nature heavy on decorative atmosphere and stereotypical evocations of gay Paree during the belle époque.

From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2015

Throughout Culture Crash, the 1990s function as a go-to belle époque: “the peak years of journalistic employment, especially for newspapers,” the height of architectural innovation, the heyday of indie rock.

From Slate ● Jan. 8, 2015

In a belle époque metal frame tinged with verdigris was a photograph of his parents, Grace and Ernest, three days after their wedding.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan