Proust

American  

[proost, proost] / prust, prust /

noun

1. Joseph Louis 1754–1826, French chemist.

2. Marcel 1871–1922, French novelist.

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Proust British  

/ prust /

noun

1. Joseph Louis (ʒozɛf lwi). 1754–1826, French chemist, who formulated the law of constant proportions

2. Marcel (marsɛl). 1871–1922, French novelist whose long novel À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–27) deals with the relationship of the narrator to themes such as art, time, memory, and society

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Example Sentences

Marcel Proust wrote in bed; Dalton Trumbo in a bath; Agatha Christie only needed “a steady table and a typewriter.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

GERWIG: So he would have loved Proust Barbie!

From Seattle Times • Jul. 20, 2023

“Like many people during the pandemic, I was spending long afternoons with Proust and Melville, Milton and others. So, suddenly, they were the ones whispering in my ear,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2023

Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris draws many visitors to the tombs of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Marcel Proust and other celebrated artists buried there.

From New York Times • Dec. 29, 2022

That every year, on her birthday, her father would present her with another puzzle and another novel, and she would read all of Jules Verne and all of Dumas and maybe even Balzac and Proust?

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr