folie de grandeur

French folie des grandeurs

[faw-leed^uhgrahn-dœr]

noun

Psychiatry.

plural

folies de grandeur 

1. a delusion of grandeur; megalomania.

folie de grandeur

/ fɔli də ɡrɑ̃dœr /

noun

1. delusions of grandeur

Word History and Origins

Origin of folie de grandeur¹

From French

Word History and Origins

Origin of folie de grandeur¹

literally: madness of grandeur

Example Sentences

“It was folie de grandeur,” she told me, as we left the Mille Collines.

From New York Times

“Every time Juncker spoke during the referendum, he helped the Leave campaign. The EU wants to make a choice about whether it wants Nato to continue. What would be the purpose of a European defence force? It is a folie de grandeur, like other things the EU has done which has caused it to face its current existential crisis. It is frankly crackers. But it is illustrative of the weird and narcissistic world in which he operates.”

From The Guardian

To critics this was the folie de grandeur in the company’s hasty expansion abroad; it never seemed likely that chic Parisiennes would flock to the M&S lingerie department.

From Economist

The European Union is dysfunctional, corrupt, and afflicted by a kind of corporate folie de grandeur.

From The Guardian

Choosing that isolated, sparsely populated and energy-deprived area to present the work of one of the most power-dependent artists in the world is truly a folie de grandeur.

From New York Times