éclaircissement

American  

[ey-kler-sees-mahn] / eɪ klɛr sisˈmɑ̃ /

noun

French.

• éclaircissements
  plural

1. clarification; explanation.

2. (initial capital letter) the Enlightenment.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• éclaircissements
  plural

Explanation

Eclaircissement is clarifying something that initially seemed impossible to understand. Once your teacher sits down and patiently explains how to solve an equation, an eclaircissement can finally take place. When something obscure or incomprehensible is cleared up for you, that's eclaircissement. It's a bit like enlightenment, producing a significant change in the way you perceive or understand. You might experience an eclaircissement about your mysterious and cranky neighbor when you see him tenderly caring for his pet pigeons; you understand him more clearly. The French éclaircissement comes from the verb éclaircir, "to clear up," and a Latin root meaning "clear."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

éclaircissement éclaircissements

Now the coincidence of this meeting jolts him into an éclaircissement: "You're slow," said Loki, "but you get there in the end."

From The Guardian ● Aug. 19, 2011

The tenderest and completest éclaircissement takes place, and they are happily united. 

From Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

Should he return to it and stay till circumstances favoured him with an éclaircissement?

From The Fatal Cord And The Falcon Rover by Mayne Reid

Then it was I began to perceive how the wind was setting; but yesterday we had a real éclaircissement.

From The Bostonians, Vol. II (of II) by Henry James

Seeing Emily in tears, and my father's letter in her hand, he knew that an éclaircissement had taken place, or was in progress.

From Frank Mildmay Or, The Naval Officer by Frederick Marryat

The éclaircissements which the occasion required were followed by the resignation of the secretary.

From Life and Times of Washington, Volume 2 Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched by John Frederick Schroeder