roman à clef

American  

[raw-mah na kle] / rɔ mɑ na ˈklɛ /

noun

French.

• romans à clef
  plural

1. a novel that represents historical events and characters under the guise of fiction.

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roman à clef British  

/ rɔmɑ̃ a kle /

noun

1. a novel in which real people are depicted under fictitious names

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roman à clef Cultural  

1. A novel in which actual people and places are disguised as fictional characters. Roman à clef is French for “novel with a key.”

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• romans à clef
  plural

Etymology

Origin of roman à clef

First recorded in 1880–85; literally “novel with a key,” the key being the connection between the fictional and nonfictional elements of the novel

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

roman à clef

Titled “Fiesta” in drafts, the novel is a roman à clef through and through, a story that may have been news across the Atlantic but rang clear as a church bell through the Latin Quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The story quoted a few skeptics—among them the writer Harry Monaghan, who’d written a well-received roman à clef five years prior, and who had a regular column in the Post.

From Slate ● May 27, 2023

Her third book, “American Wife,” was a darkly shaded roman à clef about a woman very much like First Lady Laura Bush.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2023

It's an adorable kind of roman à clef.

From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2022

On the technical development of the modern novel the roman à clef can hardly have exercised a strong influence.

From The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Haywood by George Frisbie Whicher