persona grata

American  

[per-soh-nah grah-tah, per-soh-nuh grah-tuh, grey-tuh, grat-uh] / pɛrˈsoʊ nɑ ˈgrɑ tɑ, pərˈsoʊ nə ˈgrɑ tə, ˈgreɪ tə, ˈgræt ə /

noun

Latin.

• personae gratae
  plural

1. an acceptable person, especially a diplomatic representative acceptable to the government to which they are accredited.

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persona grata British  

/ pɜːˈsəʊnə ˈɡrɑːtə /

noun

1. an acceptable person, esp a diplomat acceptable to the government of the country to which he or she is sent

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• personae gratae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of persona grata

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

persona grata

Cavett: I was actually persona grata at the White House for a brief time.

From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2016

Nor is Colonel John Patrick Sullivan, another big old-line Democrat, persona grata beyond his urban district, because of his horse track, gambling and brewing connections.

From Time Magazine Archive

Once he seemed bent on expelling all foreign correspondents, but now more than 200 of them are "persona grata" in a land where American diplomats are not.

From Time Magazine Archive

Robert Frost should be persona grata to two opposing parties: Yankees who never touch poetry and poetry-bibbers who shy at Yankees.

From Time Magazine Archive

Evidently Sir Hudson Lowe was no more of a persona grata to Wellington than he afterwards became to Napoleon!

From A Week at Waterloo in 1815 Lady De Lancey's Narrative: Being an Account of How She Nursed Her Husband, Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey, Quartermaster-General of the Army, Mortally Wounded in the Great Battle by Magdalene de Lancey