no longer fashionable, in wide use, etc.; out-of-date; outmoded.
There were many photographs of passé fashions. I thought hand-cranked pencil sharpeners were passé.
past.
time passé.
past the prime of one's life.
out-of-date
passé ideas
past the prime; faded
a passé society beauty
Literally, “passing, pass”
1765–75; < French, past participle of passer to pass
Passé describes something that's out of style or "so yesterday!" What your parents think is cool is usually very passé, but sometimes their old stuff is stylish again, like the Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt you borrow from your mom. From the French passer, "to pass," passé came into English use in the 18th century, and its accented "é" is still used in the 21st century. Pronounced "pass-AY," the adjective passé is a classier way to call something outdated, unfashionable, and so out of touch with trends. Your floppy pop-star haircut may be passé if a crew-cut band becomes all the rage, but even saying "all the rage" is itself probably passé. If it's current and in style, it's not passé.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She learned her motto, “No is a vitamin,” from industry executive Suzanne de Passe while singing back-up for Motown.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2021
It’s Peele’s first writing and directing project, and it makes him the first black winner in the category, and only the fourth nominated, after John Singleton, Spike Lee, and Suzanne de Passe.
From The Verge • Mar. 4, 2018
Only one other black woman has been nominated for screenwriting before: Suzanne de Passe for 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues, in the Best Original Screenplay category.
From Slate • Feb. 27, 2018
Suzanne de Passe, the Motown staffer who had signed the Jackson 5, agreed to let the Commodores audition for her.
From Washington Post • Nov. 29, 2017
Fourteen of the plates, mostly the earlier ones, are signed by Elstracke, and Simon Passe and Francis Delaram each contributed four.
From Fine Books by Pollard, Alfred W. (Alfred William)
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.
