milieu

[ mil-yoo, meel-; French mee-lyœ ]

/ mɪlˈyʊ, mil-; French miˈlyœ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR milieu ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural mi·lieus, French mi·lieux [mee-lyœ] /miˈlyœ/.

surroundings, especially of a social or cultural nature: a snobbish milieu.

Nearby words

miliary abscess, miliary embolism, miliary fever, miliary tuberculosis, milicent, milieu, milieu therapy, milit., militant, militant tendency, militaria

Origin of milieu

1795–1805; < French, equivalent to mi (< Latin medius middle; see medium) + lieu lieu

SYNONYMS FOR milieu

background, sphere, setting. See environment.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR milieu ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for milieu

Above all, artists deserve a milieu in which musical talent is celebrated and given some acknowledgement in the media.
Music Criticism Has Degenerated Into Lifestyle Reporting|Ted Gioia|March 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She deems her work “craft with modern techniques” and has been welcomed into the milieu despite an unconventional approach.
The New Queens of Haute Couture|Sarah Moroz|January 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Instead he describes the milieu in which the works were created and received.
Best Year Ever: How 1922 Birthed Modernism|Mark Braude|September 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
That was the milieu he came from: the paid-by-the-word grind of the hack writer.
Elmore Leonard Was the Cool King of Crime Fiction|Malcolm Jones|August 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST

The two shows are so similar—premise, tone, characters, milieu—that comparisons are inevitable.
‘Low Winter Sun’ Might Be the New ‘Wire’|Andrew Romano|August 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Elle se tenait au milieu de la porte, un peu de ct, avec le visage tourn vers moi.
Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death|Frederick W. H. Myers
Other botanists—French, German, and English—have also been led to believe in the direct influence of the milieu, or environment.
Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution|Alpheus Spring Packard
Comme il se couchait de trs bonne heure, il lui arrivait de s'veiller au milieu de la nuit.
Since Czanne|Clive Bell
On the Zone, the Spanish labourer works in order to save and to depart, the milieu being foreign to him and unattractive.
The Panama Canal and its Makers|Vaughan Cornish
No playwright is more joyously observant than Mr. Jones; and none observes more accurately, in the milieu that he has chosen.
Dolly Reforming Herself|Henry Arthur Jones

British Dictionary definitions for milieu

milieu

/ (ˈmiːljɜː, French miljø) /

noun plural -lieux (-ljɜː, -ljɜːz, French -ljø) or -lieus

surroundings, location, or setting

Word Origin for milieu

C19: from French, from mi- mid 1 + lieu place

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

Medicine definitions for milieu

milieu

[ mĭl-yu′, mēl-yœ′ ]

n. pl. mi•lieus

The totality of one's surroundings; an environment.

The social setting of a mental patient.

milieu

noun, plural mi·lieus, French mi·lieux [mee-lyœ] /miˈlyœ/.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of milieu

SYNONYMS FOR milieu

Examples from the Web for milieu

British Dictionary definitions for milieu

milieu

noun plural -lieux (-ljɜː, -ljɜːz, French -ljø) or -lieus

Word Origin for milieu

Medicine definitions for milieu

milieu

n. pl. mi•lieus