Thermidor

American  

[thur-mi-dawr, ter-mee-dawr] / ˈθɜr mɪˌdɔr, tɛr miˈdɔr /

noun

1. Also called Fervidor.  (in the French Revolutionary calendar) the 11th month of the year, extending from July 19 to August 17.

2. (sometimes lowercase) lobster thermidor.

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Thermidor British  

/ tɛrmidɔr /

noun

1. Also: Fervidor.  the month of heat: the eleventh month of the French revolutionary calendar, extending from July 20 to Aug 18

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Etymology

Origin of Thermidor

1820–30; < French < Greek thérm ( ē ) heat + dôr ( on ) gift; cf. -i-

Example Sentences

Thermidor, as defined by Messrs. Haenni and Drevon, marked “the moment when the revolution confronted political reality” and was “forced to compromise on its initial ideas and promises.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 3, 2025

You are an artist, things are going your way, and it is 9 Thermidor, Year Two — or July 27, 1794, before your fellow revolutionaries changed the calendar.

From New York Times • Feb. 17, 2022

In Iceland, passengers on the Viking Sky consoled themselves with meals of lobster Thermidor and Dover sole after similarly being turned away from nearly every port they intended to visit.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 15, 2021

And for the authors of the cockroach application — Jason Li, Melissa Thermidor, and Amanda Hickman — that includes the aftermath of a nuclear war.

From The Verge • Nov. 25, 2020

Beside the remnant of Terrorists, such as Billaud Varennes and Collot d’Herbois, who had joined in the revolt against Parties in the Assembly after Thermidor.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various