facile princeps
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of facile princeps
literally: easily first
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.
He was facile princeps as a blagueur, that is, he could chaff unmercifully, talk tall, make a fool imagine himself wise, and a wise man feel foolish.
From Fragments of an Autobiography by Felix Moscheles
Mr. Lawson must now be regarded as facile princeps in the production of the short tale.
From Early Days in North Queensland by Edward Palmer
Again he was turned, and again he distanced his pursuers, until beleaguered on all sides, he was finally speared by the chief smith and body physician, who, as an equestrian, shone facile princeps.
From The Highlands of Ethiopia by William Cornwallis Harris
In the matter of the identification of Roman remains he was facile princeps, and for many years stood without a rival, his investigations and explorations extending over England and Europe.
From A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land by William R. (William Richard) Hughes
Wimble, the traveller facile princeps, for this kind of goods, knew, therefore, everything that was 'in-the-air-to-day,' without knowing in the least why it was to be believed, or what the arguments were.
From The Promise of Air by Algernon Blackwood
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.
