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grand seigneur

British  
/ ɡrɑ̃ sɛɲœr /

noun

  1. ironic a dignified or aristocratic man

"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

Etymology

Origin of grand seigneur

literally: great lord

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.

See Examples For:

"A bourgeois poet with the instincts of a grand seigneur" as Besterman puts it, Voltaire set out none too scrupulously to guarantee himself financial security.

From Time Magazine Archive

There he continues to produce work that sounds less like a grand seigneur than a great copywriter: "How would you like to watch a Wall Creeper running up and down the apricot walls?" he writes.

From Time Magazine Archive

The popular image of the orchestra conductor is that of a grand seigneur: imperious, authoritarian and, more often than not, old.

From Time Magazine Archive

Yet he had enough spare energy to become the 19th century's grand seigneur of French literature, hammering out poems, plays, novels and essays as other men might manufacture horseshoes.

From Time Magazine Archive

The devouring war had passed it by, and it stood like a dignified grand seigneur looking sorrowfully over the countryside.

From The Orchard of Tears by Rohmer, Sax

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