en masse

American  

[ahn mas, en, ahn mas] / ɑn ˈmæs, ɛn, ɑ̃ ˈmas /

adverb

1. in a mass; all together; as a group.

   The people rushed to the gate en masse.

---

en masse British  

/ ɑ̃ mas /

adverb

1. in a group, body, or mass; as a whole; all together

---

en masse Cultural  

1. A French phrase meaning “in a large body”: “The protesters left en masse for the White House.”

---

en masse Idioms  

1. In one group or body; all together. For example, The activists marched en masse to the capitol. This French term, with exactly the same meaning, was adopted into English about 1800.

---

Etymology

Origin of en masse

Borrowed into English from French around 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

en masse

Even more egregious is the case of AI companies buying and destroying rare books en masse in the process of scanning them for data.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

Hearing the futile spinning of tires, neighbors came out en masse to figure out how to solve the problem.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

So is the proud Iranian diaspora showing up en masse to mostly support Team Melli twice, in draws with New Zealand and Belgium.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026

It imposes a per-item fee for producing textile en masse that will increase over time, and a ban on advertising for ultra-fast fashion brands, including by social media influencers.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

Yosho-to’s Japanese-Malayan dinner still en masse and riding my sternum like an elevator, one or the other of the Yoshotos began to moan in his or her sleep, just the other side of my wall.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger

Related Words

• altogether