mot juste

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French mot juste.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊˈʒuːst/ (or as French, below)

Noun

mot juste (plural mots justes)

  1. The perfectly appropriate word or phrase for the situation.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter V:
      She legged it, and for a moment silence reigned. Then Bobbie said, “Phew!” and I agreed that “Phew!” was the mot juste.
    • 2014 March 23, David Streitfeld, “Web Fiction, Serialized and Social”, in New York Times:
      Wattpad is not the sort of site where writers talk about suffering for their art or spend hours searching for the mot juste.

Translations


French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mo ʒyst/

Noun

mot juste m (plural mots justes)

  1. Exactly the right word or phrasing.

See also

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