faute de mieux
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of faute de mieux
First recorded in 1760–70
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.
They include bigly, deplorable, irregardless, icon, assumpsit, faute de mieux, in omnia paratus, revenant and feckless.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 20, 2016
Finland emerged as a modern nation state almost faute de mieux: having been annexed from Sweden by Russia, the Grand Duchy of Finland found itself without a Grand Duke following the October Revolution.
From The New Yorker • May 12, 2015
Some of the most well-meaning people collaborate — faute de mieux — and some of the bravest resisters are downright unpleasant.
From New York Times • Aug. 29, 2013
Doctors offhandedly counsel moderation as a holding pattern, something you do, cautiously and faute de mieux, until things go really wrong.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The habit was merely practiced faute de mieux.
From Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism by Ellis, Havelock
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.