adjective
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known only to connoisseurs; choice or rare
-
studiedly refined or elegant
Etymology
Origin of recherché
First recorded in 1680–90; from French, past participle of rechercher “to search for carefully”; see research
Explanation
Something that's recherche is very fancy, and maybe a little bit rare. Taking an elegant ocean liner from New York to France would be a recherche way to travel. Language can be recherche, when it's especially complicated. If you're writing a story and instead of "She said," you write "She opined" or "She emoted," your style is fairly recherche. And if everyone at a party is wearing jeans, but you wear a tuxedo, your outfit is recherche. In French, recherché means "carefully sought out," from chercher, "to search."
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.
They added that AICA-USA was “moribund and loyal to the time when art criticism and writing was a niche, privileged, recherché endeavor. We insist that it does not need to be this.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2023
And restorative justice—once a fairly recherché concept on the left—has gotten widespread enough that the backlash is well under way.
From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2021
We shopped for organic produce and drank freshly squeezed juices and green smoothies decades before that was considered recherché.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2020
Some of these were fairly mainstream, like pink grapefruit and chamomile; others were more recherché, like aniseed and cassia; and one, Grains of Paradise, sounded like a gnarly and sardonic rock band from Hawaii.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 2, 2019
An antique-looking silver coffee-pot, with cream-jug and sugar-bowl, made Cora's little table look like the most recherché in the land.
From Godey's Lady's Book, Vol. XLII., May 1851 by Various
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