rapprochement

English

WOTD – 12 June 2018

Etymology

Borrowed from French rapprochement (act or process of getting closer together; link (between two things)).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹəˈpɹɒʃmɒ̃/, /ɹæ-/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ɹæpɹoʊʃˈmɑn/, /-ˈmɑ̃/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: rap‧proche‧ment

Noun

rapprochement (plural rapprochements)

  1. The reestablishment of cordial relations, particularly between two countries; a reconciliation.
    It was the Nixon administration that saw the rapprochement between the United States and China.
    • 1869 December 11, “The Changes in the Government of France (Die Neue Freie Presse—Vienna, Nov. 30.)”, in Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press throughout the World on All Important Current Topics, volume XVI, number 429, London: Printed by Charles Wyman, [] and published, for the proprietors, by Isaac Seaman, [], OCLC 173418495, page 738, column 2:
      The inauguration of a liberal order of things, a rapprochement of the [First French] Empire with constitutionalism and Parliamentary government, had been expected from the Speech from the Throne now just given. This expectation is completely disappointed by the speech. 
    • 1892 February, James Sulley, “Is Man the Only Reasoner?”, in The Popular Science Monthly, volume XL, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Pub. Co., OCLC 1762662, page 506:
      Not forever, however, was the animal world to suffer this indignity at the hands of man. Thinkers themselves prepared the way for a rapprochement between the two. More particularly the English philosophers from [John] Locke onward, together with their French followers, [] may be said by a sort of leveling-down process to have favored the idea of a mental kinship between man and brute.
    • 1926 December 2, “‘No victors’ if European war starts: French foreign policy: China and Italy”, in The Daily Examiner, volume 18, number 2721 (New Series), Grafton, N.S.W.: Printed and published by William Frederick Blood, of Grafton, for the Daily Examiner, Limited, [...], OCLC 920432055, page 5:
      M. [Aristide] Briand, in a statement on the French foreign policy said a lasting European peace was impossible without a Franco-German rapprochement.
    • 1940 January, “Italy’s Living Room”, in The Living Age, volume 357, number 4480, New York, N.Y.: The Living Age Company Inc., OCLC 1011870584, section II (Eyes to the Balkans: Translated from Europe Nouvelle, Paris Political and Literary Weekly), page 475, column 1:
      Attempts at a Hungarian–Yugoslavian rapprochement are not a recent matter, and Italy has always approved of them. But in the past these attempts had been made with the idea of breaking up the Little Entente and isolating Yugoslavia.
    • 1989, David Boucher, “The New Leviathan in Context”, in The Social and Political Thought of R. G. Collingwood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 27:
      Further, I argue that [Robin George] Collingwood's final work is in fact the culmination of his persistent endeavour to bring about rapprochements between philosophy and history, and between theory and practice.
    • 2018 June 4, Dominique Mosbergen, “Another Summit Snafu: Who’s Going to Pay for Kim Jong Un’s Singapore Hotel Room?: The U.S., Singapore and an Anti-nuke Organization have All Reportedly Offered to Help Foot the Bill”, in HuffPost:
      During the recent Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, for instance, the South Korean government earmarked about $2.6 million to cover the travel expenses of members of the North’s visiting delegation, [] “These norms were laid in the early 2000s, when Seoul’s so-called sunshine policy took off,” Sung-Yoon Lee, a Korea expert at Tufts University, told The Washington Post last week, referring to a rapprochement policy adopted by South Korea. “North Korea can build nukes and ICBMs, but claim they are too poor to pay for foreign travel costs.”

Alternative forms

Translations

Further reading


French

Etymology

rapprocher (to near, to approach) + -ment

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁa.pʁɔʃ.mɑ̃/
  • (file)
  • (file)

Noun

rapprochement m (plural rapprochements)

  1. act or process of getting closer, nearer together
  2. link (between two things)

Further reading

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