Molière

American  

[mohl-yair, maw-lyer] / moʊlˈjɛər, mɔˈljɛr /

noun

1. Jean Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–73, French actor and playwright.

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Molière British  

/ mɔljɛr /

noun

1. real name Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. 1622–73, French dramatist, regarded as the greatest French writer of comedy. His works include Tartuffe (1664), Le Misanthrope (1666), L'Avare (1668), Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670), and Le Malade imaginaire (1673)

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Molière Cultural  

1. Nom de plume of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, a seventeenth-century French playwright. He is best known for his comedies of satire, such as The Misanthrope and Tartuffe.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Molière

I am thankful to have grown up in a bilingual country and to have attended a high school where we studied Molière in French and Shakespeare in English.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026

But it strikes a false and pandering note, since Tartuffe, as in Molière, has been plainly exposed as an opportunistic, lascivious fraud—and the only one in the play.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

Dom Juan’s reality is more complicated — for Molière and for Tata, too.

From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2022

“The Bourgeois Gentleman” and “The Forced Marriage” each steer Molière toward crepuscular absurdity.

From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

Molière gave first presentations there and received public compliment from the king.

From The Car That Went Abroad Motoring Through the Golden Age by Albert Bigelow Paine