ci-devant
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of ci-devant
Literally, “heretofore”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As a ci-devant intellectual I was one of the elect.
From Time Magazine Archive
One word only, a farewell one, on the subject of my ci-devant digressions; no, three words; I must say in my own justification. 1st.
From The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton Volume I by Barrington, Mrs. Russell
I cannot recommend it, save to very enthusiastic mountaineers, or to ci-devant jeunes hommes anxious to test the effects of Time upon their powers of walking and of endurance.
From Mathieu Ropars: et cetera by Young, William
The ci-devant stationer put on his spectacles, and looked suspiciously at the new comer.
From Mattie:?A Stray (Vol 3 of 3) by Robinson, Frederick William
And with this infamy on his lips, the ci-devant guardsman flung himself into a hansom cab, and hastened home to Saint John’s Wood.
From The Child Wife by Reid, Mayne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
