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coup de foudre

American  
[koo duh foo-druh] / ku də ˈfu drə /

noun

French.
  • coups de foudre
    plural
  1. a thunderbolt.

  2. love at first sight.


coup de foudre British  
/ ku də fudrə /

noun

  1. a sudden and amazing action or event

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of coup de foudre

First recorded in 1770–80; from French: literally “bolt of lightning”


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.

See Examples For:

Can a muralist and product designer infographic his way into telling a compelling love story, from coup de foudre to coeur brisé?

From Washington Post ● Jan. 31, 2023

Later that decade, Leaf met Robert Frank, already a star photographer, in what she described as a coup de foudre: “I saw him, and I said, ‘There he is.’

From New York Times ● Nov. 1, 2022

Or all at once, in a coup de foudre, a lightning strike of, “Hey, this is my town!”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022

The words "coup de foudre" appear in the text.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 9, 2011

Do you not feel that a coup de foudre, that love at first sight, originates in quite a different field, namely, in that of the emotions?

From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

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