mot juste
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
So the word is out, and it’s le mot juste.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
Gainsbourg is bilingual, but French is her first language; she pauses occasionally in our conversation to search around for le mot juste.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 26, 2019
And as Barnum ended nearly a century of trying to edit that sense of wonder into the mot juste, he finally nailed it at the end.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2019
In January, when PhD students jostle for jobs at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, a “market” might seem the mot juste.
From Economist ● Nov. 24, 2016
The arrogance of the vulgar, the—the uninstructed—perhaps I lack the mot juste, but quand même—the mansuetude of the loftier mind.
From The Highwayman by Bailey, H. C. (Henry Christopher)
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.
