Gallicism
Americannoun
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a French idiom or expression used in another language, as Je ne sais quoi when used in English.
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a feature that is characteristic of or peculiar to the French language.
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a custom or trait considered to be characteristically French.
noun
Etymology
Origin of Gallicism
First recorded in 1650–60; from French gallicisme; see Gallic, -ism
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 a tall, black-haired, mercurial Frenchman, with an eye like a falcon, who, with only an occasional Gallicism purposely indulged in, spoke American like a native.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 25, November, 1859 by Various
Fox's Gallicism, too, was a treasury of weapons to Pitt.
From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Coleridge, Henry Nelson
"Another forfeit for a Gallicism," said a Russian writer who was present.
From War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf
If, however, there were Anglicism on one side, so there was quite as much Gallicism, if not a good deal more, on the other.
From James Madison by Gay, Sydney Howard
And this opens a curious question as to how long this Gallicism maintained itself in England.
From The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell by Lowell, James Russell
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.