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dossier

[ dos-ee-ey, -ee-er, daw-see-ey, -see-er; French daw-syey ]

/ ˈdɒs iˌeɪ, -i ər, ˈdɔ siˌeɪ, -si ər; French dɔˈsyeɪ /

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What do you call a bundle of papers? A stack? Pile? Trash? All that work you’ve been putting off? What about "dossier"?

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noun, plural dos·si·ers [dos-ee-eyz, -ee-erz, daw-see-eyz, -see-ers; French daw-syey] /ˈdɒs iˌeɪz, -i ərz, ˈdɔ siˌeɪz, -si ərs; French dɔˈsyeɪ/.

a collection or file of documents on the same subject, especially a complete file containing detailed information about a person or topic.

RELATED WORDS

summary, profile, information, record, archives, report, portfolio

Nearby words

Origin of dossier

1875–80; < French: bundle of documents with a label attached to the back or spine, equivalent to dos (< Latin dorsum) back + -ier -ier²

SYNONYMS FOR dossier

record, report, folder.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dossier

And yet, a dossier of allegations involving human rights could not help any cardinal at a moment like that.
How Pope Francis Became the World’s BFF|Jason Berry|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Last year, the Home Office said the dossier had mysteriously disappeared from the archives.
Victim: I Watched British MPs Rape and Murder Young Boys|Nico Hines|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Recently, when whistleblowers finally surfaced, the Home Office officials could find no trace of the dossier.
The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero|Clive Irving|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“What the dossier claims is staggering,” Michele De Luca, director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, told Science Insider.
‘Hero’ Doc Accused of Harvesting Stem Cells in Dirty Basements|Barbie Latza Nadeau|April 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Benedict reportedly locked up the dossier in the papal apartments for the next pope to deal with.
Is Pope Francis Going After the Vatican’s ‘Gay Lobby’?|Barbie Latza Nadeau|June 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
They number ninety volumes; the dossier alone of Germinal forms four volumes of five hundred pages.
Ivory Apes and Peacocks|James Huneker
What was obviously the dossier slid from the desk chute and Holland leafed through it, as though disinterested.
Frigid Fracas|Dallas McCord Reynolds
You will have to ask for that dossier, and study it most carefully for your own defence.
My Memoirs|Marguerite Steinheil
They won't have your dossier, so you can tell any lie you like.
Greenmantle|John Buchan
He had their dossier, as the French say, and as the police has of that of every conspicuous criminal.
Materials and Methods of Fiction|Clayton Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for dossier

dossier

/ (ˈdɒsɪˌeɪ, -sɪə, French dosje) /

noun

a collection of papers containing information on a particular subject or person

Word Origin for dossier

C19: from French: a file with a label on the back, from dos back, from Latin dorsum

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

Word Origin and History for dossier

dossier

n.

1880, from French dossier "bundle of papers," from dos "back" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin dossum, variant of Latin dorsum "back" (see dorsal). Supposedly so called because the bundle bore a label on the back, or possibly from resemblance of the bulge in a mass of bundled papers to the curve of a back. Old French dossiere meant "back-strap, ridge strap (of a horse's harness)."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper