Lafayette
Americannoun
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Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier Marquis de. Also 1757–1834, French soldier, statesman, and liberal leader, who served in the American Revolutionary Army as aide-de-camp to General Washington, and took a leading part in the French revolutions of 1789 and 1830.
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a city in S Louisiana.
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a city in W Indiana, on the Wabash River.
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a town in W California.
noun
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Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier (mari ʒozɛf pɔl iv rɔk ʒilbɛr dy mɔtje), Marquis de Lafayette. 1757–1834, French general and statesman. He fought on the side of the colonists in the War of American Independence and, as commander of the National Guard (1789–91; 1830), he played a leading part in the French Revolution and the revolution of 1830
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Marie-Madeleine (marimadlɛn), Comtesse de Lafayette. 1634–93, French novelist, noted for her historical romance La Princesse de Clèves (1678)
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.
The young Lafayette seized the opportunity to avenge his father’s death and his country’s humiliation, arriving in America in 1777, at only 19 years old, as the patriot cause was at its nadir.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The challenges of travel and communication in the vast young republic made the efforts of both Lafayette and his hosts all the more impressive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
As Washington had warned when Lafayette contemplated a return in the 1790s, “you would lose the confidence of one party or the other, perhaps both, were you here under these circumstances.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Gen. Lafayette of the Continental Army, returned after an absence of more than 40 years for a grand tour of the country he so gallantly served at its birth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
I reach out so we can shake hands, but Lafayette is hesitant.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
