démarche

• demarche

Borrowed from French démarche, from Middle French, from 12th century demarcher (“to march”),[1] from Old French demarchier, from de- + marchier.[2]

Attested 1658,[2] in sense “walk, step”; meaning “a diplomatic move” attested from 1670s.[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /deɪˈmɑːʃ/

démarche (plural démarches)

1. A diplomatic maneuver; one handled with finesse.
2. A protest launched through diplomatic measures.
   • 2009, Ivor Roberts, Satow's Diplomatic Practice, 6th Edition, page 54,

     A less formal way of making diplomatic representations or protests is called a démarche. The following from the US Department of State handbook sets out the typical procedures and purposes of a démarche.

   • 2012, Sotiris Rizas, The Rise of the Left in Southern Europe: Anglo-American Responses, unnumbered page,

     He did not question the Communist Party's conformity to Moscow, but he thought that the impact of a démarche would be limited since the Portuguese Communists could not afford to tone down their policies lest they be outflanked from the left.

   • 2014, Katrin Kinzelbach, The EU's Human Rights Dialogue with China: Quiet Diplomacy and Its Limits, page 99,

     The EU made a démarche on 16 April 2003 calling for the continuation of discussions regarding this so-called “follow-up mechanism”, but beyond the one-off meeting, the mechanism never took off and was soon forgotten due to staff changes within the EU bureaucracy.

From démarcher.

• IPA^(key): /de.maʁʃ/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: démarchent, démarches

démarche f (plural démarches)

1. gait, walk
2. step, procedure, move, intervention
3. reasoning

démarche

1. first-person singular present indicative of démarcher
2. third-person singular present indicative of démarcher
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of démarcher
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of démarcher
5. second-person singular imperative of démarcher

• “démarche” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).