dauphin
Americannoun
plural
dauphinsnoun
Etymology
Origin of dauphin
1475–85; < French; Middle French dalphin, after Dauphiné ( def. ), from an agreement to thus honor the province after its cession to France
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 Bedford conceded, her victories in 1429 on behalf of the dauphin, which finally enabled his coronation, fractured English morale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026
During the outbreak of 1711 alone, smallpox killed the Holy Roman emperor Joseph I; three siblings of the future Holy Roman emperor Francis I; and the heir to the French throne, the grand dauphin Louis.
From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2021
All this may have begun with Doctorow’s Daniel, a dauphin of radical history, as anointed as he is tormented.
From The New Yorker • Apr. 29, 2019
He sees himself as a “dying king”, or as a dauphin; a girl he optimistically dates is “royalty”, her beauty “a trooping of the colour”; another beloved boy is seen as a “paupered prince”.
From The Guardian • Jun. 10, 2016
No sooner was Ojardias left alone with the dauphin than he extricated the sleeping mute from his prison-place and deposited him on the chair recently occupied by the prince.
From Claimants to Royalty by Ingram, John M.
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.
