Fontenelle

/ (French fɔ̃tənɛl) /

noun

Bernard le Bovier de (bɛrnar lə bɔvje də). 1657–1757, French philosopher. His writings include Digressions sur les anciens et les modernes (1688) and Éléments de la géométrie de l'infini (1727)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for fontenelle

The great influence of Fontenelle was wholly in the same sceptical direction.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3)|John Morley
Fontenelle and his party now camped at the scene of the engagement, to recruit their men, and bury here their dead.
Life of Kit Carson|Charles Burdett
Then we have probably arrived just in time, Fontenelle went on.
The River Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence|Harry Gordon
The mounts of Condamine and Fontenelle remainedone on the right, the other on the left.
From the Earth to the Moon, Direct in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes: and a Trip Round It|Jules Verne

He practised, but 'sans goût et sans succès,' says Fontenelle, his nephew and biographer.
A Short History of French Literature|George Saintsbury