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
The ci-devant stationer put on his spectacles, and looked suspiciously at the new comer.
From Mattie:?A Stray (Vol 3 of 3) by Frederick William Robinson
Now then for the detested residence, and the empty grave, of the ci-devant conqueror of Europe!”
From Perils in the Transvaal and Zululand by H.C. Adams
The house was full of company, among whom were the ci-devant sindico of the Val di Orno, his son, and South American daughter-in-law.
From The Finger of Fate A Romance by Mayne Reid
What the ci-devant Horace Townsend experienced may be easily enough indicated, and in one word—madness.
From The Coward A Novel of Society and the Field in 1863 by Henry Morford
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.
