Voltaire

American  

[vohl-tair, vol-, vawl-ter] / voʊlˈtɛər, vɒl-, vɔlˈtɛr /

noun

1. François Marie Arouet, 1694–1778, French philosopher, historian, satirist, dramatist, and essayist.

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Voltaire British  

/ vəʊl-, vɔltɛr, vɒlˈtɛə /

noun

1. pseudonym of François Marie Arouet. 1694–1778, French writer, whose outspoken belief in religious, political, and social liberty made him the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. His major works include Lettres philosophiques (1734) and the satire Candide (1759). He also wrote plays, such as Zaïre (1732), poems, and scientific studies. He suffered several periods of banishment for his radical views

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Voltaire Cultural  

1. The nom de plume of François Arouet, an eighteenth-century French philosopher and author and a major figure of the Enlightenment. Voltaire was known as a wit and freethinker. The most famous of his works is Candide.

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Other Word Forms

• Voltairean
  adjective
• Voltairian
  adjective

Compare meaning

How does voltaire compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Voltaire vs. Rousseau

Example Sentences

Also, I am afraid your columns do not sufficiently extol the value of work, which Voltaire rightly claimed protects us from the evils of boredom, vice, and poverty.

From MarketWatch • May 13, 2026

“O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous,” Voltaire, the 18th-century French enlightenment philosopher, himself known for his bons mots, once wrote, adding: “God granted my prayer.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

As Voltaire warned, “Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust.”

From Salon • Jan. 15, 2026

The restaurant is housed at the Consulat Voltaire, an old electricity sub-station turned cultural centre, in the 11th district of Paris near the place de la Bastille.

From Barron's • Oct. 11, 2025

What Voltaire was to France, Franklin was to America, the symbol of mankind’s triumphal arrival at modernity.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis