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.
Certainly not; for that feeling would naturally diminish in succeeding generations, whereas the Gallicism of our people is on the increase,—in fact its origin is of comparatively recent date.
From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 by Various
The misery consequent on the great wars, and the powerful reaction against Gallicism throughout Germany, once more caused despised religion to be reverenced in the age of philosophy.
From Germany from the Earliest Period Volume 4 by Horrocks, Mrs. George
It is a Gallicism, but all the better, where one desires to be imperative, and yet vague.
From Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I. by Lever, Charles James
Gallicism she objected to; the clarity of the French seemed to her superficial; she saw depth in the reserved and taciturn Northern, particularly the Norwegian, nature.
From Recollections of My Childhood and Youth by Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen
A considerable number of French came over in that manner, so that life in California was then, as now, considerably leavened by Gallicism.
From The Forty-Niners A Chronicle of the California Trail and El Dorado by White, Stewart Edward
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.