sang-froid

[ French sahn-frwa ]
See synonyms for sang-froid on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. coolness of mind; calmness; composure: They committed the robbery with complete sang-froid.

Origin of sang-froid

1
1740–50; <French: literally, cold blood

Other words for sang-froid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sang-froid in a sentence

  • It was his sangfroid which was responsible for the devotion with which the soldiers rushed against the enemy.

    Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison
  • Then Kemeny stood up with imperturbable sangfroid and buckled on his sword, but refused to wear armour.

  • He understood that he was unceremoniously dismissed, but he was not the kind of man to easily lose his sangfroid.

    John Marsh's Millions | Charles Klein
  • Where was the aristocratic sangfroid which should have made him proof even against so much perturbing news?

    The Bronze Eagle | Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy
  • Accordingly his first act was with characteristic sangfroid to order these commodities quietly.

    Ulysses | James Joyce

British Dictionary definitions for sang-froid

sang-froid

/ (French sɑ̃frwa) /


noun
  1. composure; self-possession; calmness

Origin of sang-froid

1
C18: from French, literally: cold blood

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

Cultural definitions for sangfroid

sangfroid

[ (sahn-frwah, sahn-fwah) ]


Composure in the face of difficulty or danger: “We would all be dead today if our bus driver hadn't kept his sangfroid when the bus began to skid on the ice.” From French, meaning “cold blood.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.