coup de grâce

[ koo duh-grahs ]
See synonyms for coup de grâce on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural coups de grâce [koo duh-grahs]. /ku dəˈgrɑs/. French.
  1. a death blow, especially one delivered mercifully to end suffering.

  2. any finishing or decisive stroke.

Origin of coup de grâce

1
Literally, “blow of mercy”

Words Nearby coup de grâce

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use coup de grâce in a sentence

  • But before a jury was empanelled the November ballot gave the Prosecution its "coup de grace."

    Port O' Gold | Louis John Stellman

British Dictionary definitions for coup de grâce

coup de grâce

/ French (ku də ɡrɑs) /


nounplural coups de grâce (ku də ɡrɑs)
  1. a mortal or finishing blow, esp one delivered as an act of mercy to a sufferer

  2. a final or decisive stroke

Origin of coup de grâce

1
literally: blow of mercy

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

Cultural definitions for coup de grâce

coup de grâce

[ (kooh duh grahs) ]


The final blow: “He had been getting deeper and deeper in debt; the fates delivered the coup de grâce when he died.” The phrase is French for “stroke of mercy.” It originally referred to the merciful stroke that put a fatally wounded person out of his misery or to the shot delivered to the head of a prisoner after he had faced a firing squad.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.