c'est la vie

American  

[se la vee] / sɛ la ˈvi /

French.

1. that's life; such is life.

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c'est la vie British  

/ sɛ la vi /

1. that's life

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C'est la vie Cultural  

1. An expression used to play down some minor disappointment: “So we lost a softball game by twenty-two runs. What can you do; c'est la vie.” From French, meaning “that's life.”

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Example Sentences

Guillermo del Toro’s almost realized “The Rise and Fall of Jabba the Hutt” was scrapped, but the filmmaker is saying c’est la vie.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2023

The term never caught on — ut c’est la vie.

From The Verge • May 31, 2022

You can’t get much more contrived than getting three supermodels to arrange your hair on a yacht, but c’est la vie, because after Jenner received 3.5m likes, the pose became incredibly popular among copycats.

From The Guardian • Nov. 25, 2019

Close smiled and offered a c’est la vie shrug.

From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2019

"Rêver c'est le bonheur; attendre c'est la vie."

From Dross by Merriman, Henry Seton