rapprochement

[rap-rohsh-mahn; French ra-prawsh-mahn]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rapprochement ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an establishment or reestablishment of harmonious relations: a rapprochement reached between warring factions.

Origin of rapprochement

1800–10; < French, equivalent to rapproche(r) to bring near, bring together (r(e)- re- + approcher; see approach) + -ment -ment

Synonyms for rapprochement

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rapprochement ON THESAURUS.COM

reconciliation, understanding, accommodation.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rapprochement

reconciliation, friendship, harmony, harmonization, detente, cordiality, friendliness, agreement, reunion, reconcilement

Examples from the Web for rapprochement

Contemporary Examples of rapprochement

The Brazilian press said the White House informed Brasilia about the rapprochement minutes before the statement was made public.
Venezuela Says Goodbye to Its Lil Friend, While the Rest of the Continent Cheers
Catalina Lobo-Guererro
December 20, 2014
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Most Latin Americans celebrated the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba.
Venezuela Says Goodbye to Its Lil Friend, While the Rest of the Continent Cheers
Catalina Lobo-Guererro
December 20, 2014
This rapprochement was The Birth of a Nation that Griffith evoked when he changed the name of his movie from The Clansman.
The Fight to Ban ‘Birth of a Nation’
Jack Schwartz
November 20, 2014
There was even a rapprochement between him and his father before his death.
The Secrets of Britain’s Wildest Aristocrats
Tom Sykes
October 20, 2014
Fittingly, some rapprochement seems to be taking place between both schools of thought.
Oh, if These Penises and Vaginas Could Talk: Genitalia as Tools, Toys, and Weapons
Menno Schilthuizen
May 1, 2014

Historical Examples of rapprochement

As there is to be no rapprochement to us, what I can say may not avail.
The Mystery of the Sea
Bram Stoker
Even English attempts at a rapprochement must not blind us to the real situation.
The German War
Arthur Conan Doyle
For the rapprochement was scarcely a normal, schoolgirl intimacy.
Regiment of Women
Clemence Dane
The Chancellor was instructed to prepare a rapprochement with France.
The Kaiser's Memoirs
William II, German Emperor
It had evidently been assumed that the time had come for a rapprochement.
The German Emperor as Shown in his Public Utterances
Christian Gauss

British Dictionary definitions for rapprochement

rapprochement

noun

a resumption of friendly relations, esp between two countries

Word Origin for rapprochement

C19: literally: bringing closer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rapprochement

"establishment of cordial relations," 1809, from French rapprochement "reunion, reconciliation," literally "a bringing near," from rapprocher "bring near," from re- "back, again" (see re-) + aprochier (see approach (v.)).

rapprochement in Culture

rapprochement

[(rap-rohsh-mahnn, rah-prawsh-mahnn)]

A closer approach of two groups to each other. Rapprochement, a French term, is often applied to two nations, especially ones that become reconciled after relations between them have worsened.