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.

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en masse British  

/ ɑ̃ mas /

adverb

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

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en masse Cultural  

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

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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.

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Etymology

Origin of en masse

Borrowed into English from French around 1795–1805

Example Sentences

The Labour MP said it was "critical that we really consider what the impacts of data centres will be before we charge into approving them en masse".

From BBC

Foot-and-mouth vaccines need to be imported as South Africa no longer has the capacity to produce them en masse.

From BBC

Last spring, victims of the Los Angeles wildfires complained loudly and en masse over how State Farm General was handling their insurance claims, especially for smoke damage.

From Los Angeles Times

Treasuries en masse, many central banks are letting their bondholdings mature and replacing them with gold.

From Barron's

The U.S. job market has been defined for months by companies holding off on new hires, but not slashing jobs en masse.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• altogether