passe
noun
the numbers 19 through 36 in roulette.
passe
1 American
[pahs]
/ pɑs /
noun
French.
passé
2
American
[pa-sey, pah-sey]
/ pæˈseɪ, pɑˈseɪ /
adjective
-
no longer fashionable, in wide use, etc.; out-of-date; outmoded.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.
- Synonyms:
- quaint, démodé, old-fashioned
-
past.
time passé.
-
past the prime of one's life.
noun
passés
plural
passé
British
/ ˈpɑseɪ, pɑse, ˈpɑːseɪ /
adjective
-
out-of-date
passé ideas
-
past the prime; faded
a passé society beauty
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of passe1
Literally, “passing, pass”
Origin of passé2
1765–75; < French, past participle of passer to pass
Explanation
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 Pronounced "pass-AY," the adjective passé is a classier way to call something outdated, unfashionable, and so out of touch with trends.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.
Vocabulary lists containing passe
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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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.
See Examples For:
While some shoppers and even Ms. Stangl see the term “work wear” as passe, Banana Republic still has a dedicated section on its website called “The Workwear Edit.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2023
That sort of picture is now often described as one that Hollywood has put on the passe schedule.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023
Economists and policymakers have sparred in recent weeks over whether the Fed's "soft landing" aspirations are altogether passe or still credible.
From Reuters ● Sep. 8, 2022
It’s a return to a kind of aggression — one country seeking to take over another — that many American policymakers and voters believed had become passe.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2022
"The matters gothe nat well to passe in Englonde,” he had stated, "nor shall nat do tyll every thyng be common, and that there be no villayns nor gentylmen.”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Standing desks are passé if not accompanied by an underdesk treadmill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
“The innovation represents something new and is thus creative. However, it is also destructive, as the company whose technology becomes passé is outcompeted.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
“He says, ‘People once used to put sugar on their salads, but I can’t believe how passé that is,’” Albala explains.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2025
I think it might be passé of me even to ask about it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2024
She is drawing on to that term of life termed passé, and begins to feel conscious of it.
From Gwen Wynn A Romance of the Wye by Reid, Mayne
The mother shed no tears; when from her bed she saw us carry it away she looked mournfully on, and as we went out she whispered, "Mes beaux jours sont passés."
From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 by Various
Well, Mozart lived in the last days of the old world, and the old world and the thoughts and sentiments of the old world are certainly a little passés now.
From Old Scores and New Readings Discussions on Music & Certain Musicians by Runciman, John F.
"That's right, growl ahead, thou, tes beaux jours sont passés, but for me l'amour, l'amour—que c'est gai, que c'est frais!" he half sung, half shouted.
From In and out of Three Normady Inns by Dodd, Anna Bowman
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.
