pis aller
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of pis aller
literally: (at) the worst going
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.
But most of us know that our marriage is a pis aller.
From The Odd Women by George Gissing
Soh! she would secure me as a pis aller, I suppose, in case Mr. Rashleigh Osbaldistone should not take compassion upon her!
From Rob Roy — Volume 01 by Sir Walter Scott
Substitutes for butcher’s meat too often suggest the purely vegetarian dish that to most people is but a pis aller.
From Household Administration Its Place in the Higher Education of Women by Various
Not that the law had any peculiar attraction for him; he rather accepted it as a pis aller; for, of course, he had to study something.
From Essays on Scandinavian Literature by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
When I wouldn't take her place, a pis aller merely.
From A Woman of Genius by Mary Hunter Austin
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.
