jeu d'esprit

American  

[zhœ des-pree] / ʒœ dɛsˈpri /

noun

French.

plural

jeux d'esprit

1. a witticism.

2. a literary work showing keen wit or intelligence rather than profundity.

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jeu d'esprit British  

/ ʒø dɛspri /

noun

1. a light-hearted display of wit or cleverness, esp in literature

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Etymology

Origin of jeu d'esprit

Literally, “play of spirit”

Example Sentences

After a 10-year absence, Mr. Angell resumed his annual rhyming jeu d’esprit in 2008:

From Washington Post • May 20, 2022

In addition, science fiction grandmaster Robert Silverberg describes how “F&SF” got its start and Paul Di Filippo offers a scholarly jeu d’esprit about a long-lost collaboration between Jules Verne and H.G.

From Washington Post • Oct. 2, 2019

Ratmansky’s Violente keeps her arms closer to her chest, and deploys them more softly, so that the pointing becomes a sort of jeu d’esprit.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 8, 2015

There are echoes of “Manhattan” and “Annie Hall,” but the better analogues for this jeu d’esprit, written by Peter Glanz and Juan Iglesias and directed by Mr. Glanz, are Mr. Allen’s comic New Yorker essays.

From New York Times • Aug. 21, 2011

But the thing is essentially a pot-boiler and a jeu d'esprit.

From The Letters of Henry James (volume I) by James, Henry