ben trovato

American  

[ben truh-vah-toh, ben traw-vah-taw] / bɛn trəˈvɑ toʊ, bɛn trɔˈvɑ tɔ /

adjective

1. appropriate and characteristic even if untrue; happily invented or discovered.

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Etymology

Origin of ben trovato

First recorded in 1770–75; from Italian: literally, “well found,” in full, Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato “If it isn’t true, it is very well found, happily invented,” a saying especially associated with Giordano Bruno, 16th-century Italian philosopher

Example Sentences

"Massena, I think," said the colonel, at a haphazard, thinking that at least the name was ben trovato, just as Sunday-school children father everything remarkable on John the Baptist.

From The Daltons, Volume I (of II) Or,Three Roads In Life by Lever, Charles James

Possibly this anecdote is of the "ben trovato" order.—E.

From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II by Downey, Edmund

After all," said she to herself, "though it was not absolutely true, it was ben trovato, it was as near the truth, perhaps, as possible.

From Tales and Novels — Volume 10 by Edgeworth, Maria

But this I believe to be a lie; or rather, it is a myth, ben trovato, involving a tremendous blowing-up with which he sunk Burr,—asking him how he liked to be "without a country."

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 74, December, 1863 by Various

Although the story involves an absurd anachronism, it is ben trovato in so far as it records the impression which the graver sort of Christian poetry was likely to make on heathen minds.

From A Literary History of the Arabs by Nicholson, Reynold