"bon mot" meaning in English

See bon mot in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /bɒn məʊ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /bɒ̃ məʊ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /bɑn moʊ/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bon mot.wav [Southern-England] Forms: bons mots [plural], bon mots [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from French bon mot (“good word”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|fr|bon mot|t=good word}} French bon mot (“good word”) Head templates: {{en-noun|bons mots|s|head=bon mot}} bon mot (plural bons mots or bon mots)
  1. A clever saying, phrase or witticism; often, a witty riposte in dialogue. Categories (topical): Comedy, Talking Synonyms: quip, remark, repartee, witticism, bonmot, bon-mot Related terms: l'esprit de l'escalier, mot juste Translations (clever saying, phrase or witticism): bonmot [masculine] (Czech), bon mot [masculine] (French), ocorrencia [feminine] (Galician), Bonmot [neuter] (German), bonmot [neuter] (Norwegian Bokmål), bra melding [feminine, masculine] (Norwegian Bokmål), bon mot [masculine] (Polish), остро́та (ostróta) [feminine] (Russian)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for bon mot meaning in English (6.3kB)

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        "2": "fr",
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  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from French bon mot (“good word”).",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "ref": "1725, “Phileleutherus Lipsiensis” [pseudonym; Richard Bentley], chapter LII, in Remarks upon a Late Discourse of Free-thinking [by Anthony Collins]: In a Letter to N. N. … Part the Second, 6th edition, Cambridge: Printed for Cornelius Crownfield, printer to the University, →OCLC, page 64",
          "text": "But ſo it is: our Writer has met with a Bon Mot of this Cato’s; which, according to his ſhallow Underſtanding and ſilly Interpretation, he preſages will ever live as a noble Free-thinking Saying.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1814, Henry Kett, “Introduction”, in The Flowers of Wit, or A Choice Collection of Bon Mots, both Antient and Modern; with Biographical and Critical Remarks. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co., […]; at the Weybridge Press, by S. Hamilton, →OCLC, page xvi",
          "text": "And if a few of these bon mots so selected be well known, they possess such acknowledged excellence, that the compiler would be justly censured, were he to deprive his readers of the pleasure of seeing them inserted in a work of this kind.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1858 September, “Sir Nathaniel”, “Readings in Current Literature. By Sir Nathaniel. [Victor] Cousin’s Key to the ‘Grand Cyrus.’ History of the French Academy.”, in William Harrison Ainsworth, editor, The New Monthly Magazine, volume CXIV, number CCCCLIII, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 47",
          "text": "M. de Pomponne conjures her not to let Mme. Cornuel's bons mots perish, but to keep a register of them. Saint-Simon describes Mme. Cornuel as a \"vieille bourgeoise du Marais,\" who was \"full of bons mots, but of bons mots that are apophthegms.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "2012, “Introduction”, in Bob Blaisdell, Odette Blaisdell, editors, The Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, page viii",
          "text": "In the lone novel of his career, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the goading Lord Henry cannot seem to help himself from delivering bon mot after bon mot. Word-play and paradoxical summation was a compulsion for [Oscar] Wilde.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016, Emo Gotsbachner, “Asserting Interpretive Frames of Political Events: Panel Discussions on Television News”, in Richard Fitzgerald, William Housley, editors, Media, Policy and Interaction, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, pages 56–57",
          "text": "Summing up a complex analysis [...] we can say that [Peter] Pilz succeeds in turning Mayr's fierce endeavours of enforcement against himself, and his bonmot about the state of politics during socialist rule becomes widely cited in the next day's press.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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      ],
      "id": "en-bon_mot-en-noun-Hzv-JPJ6",
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          "witty"
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      "related": [
        {
          "word": "l'esprit de l'escalier"
        },
        {
          "word": "mot juste"
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          "word": "quip"
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        {
          "word": "remark"
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        {
          "word": "repartee"
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        {
          "word": "witticism"
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          "word": "bonmot"
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          "lang": "Czech",
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          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "bonmot"
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          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
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          "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "Bonmot"
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          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "bon mot"
        },
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          "lang": "Russian",
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          "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "остро́та"
        }
      ]
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      "tags": [
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      "ipa": "/bɑn moʊ/",
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          "ref": "1725, “Phileleutherus Lipsiensis” [pseudonym; Richard Bentley], chapter LII, in Remarks upon a Late Discourse of Free-thinking [by Anthony Collins]: In a Letter to N. N. … Part the Second, 6th edition, Cambridge: Printed for Cornelius Crownfield, printer to the University, →OCLC, page 64",
          "text": "But ſo it is: our Writer has met with a Bon Mot of this Cato’s; which, according to his ſhallow Underſtanding and ſilly Interpretation, he preſages will ever live as a noble Free-thinking Saying.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "1814, Henry Kett, “Introduction”, in The Flowers of Wit, or A Choice Collection of Bon Mots, both Antient and Modern; with Biographical and Critical Remarks. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Lackington, Allen, and Co., […]; at the Weybridge Press, by S. Hamilton, →OCLC, page xvi",
          "text": "And if a few of these bon mots so selected be well known, they possess such acknowledged excellence, that the compiler would be justly censured, were he to deprive his readers of the pleasure of seeing them inserted in a work of this kind.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1858 September, “Sir Nathaniel”, “Readings in Current Literature. By Sir Nathaniel. [Victor] Cousin’s Key to the ‘Grand Cyrus.’ History of the French Academy.”, in William Harrison Ainsworth, editor, The New Monthly Magazine, volume CXIV, number CCCCLIII, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 47",
          "text": "M. de Pomponne conjures her not to let Mme. Cornuel's bons mots perish, but to keep a register of them. Saint-Simon describes Mme. Cornuel as a \"vieille bourgeoise du Marais,\" who was \"full of bons mots, but of bons mots that are apophthegms.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2012, “Introduction”, in Bob Blaisdell, Odette Blaisdell, editors, The Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, page viii",
          "text": "In the lone novel of his career, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the goading Lord Henry cannot seem to help himself from delivering bon mot after bon mot. Word-play and paradoxical summation was a compulsion for [Oscar] Wilde.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016, Emo Gotsbachner, “Asserting Interpretive Frames of Political Events: Panel Discussions on Television News”, in Richard Fitzgerald, William Housley, editors, Media, Policy and Interaction, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, pages 56–57",
          "text": "Summing up a complex analysis [...] we can say that [Peter] Pilz succeeds in turning Mayr's fierce endeavours of enforcement against himself, and his bonmot about the state of politics during socialist rule becomes widely cited in the next day's press.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "A clever saying, phrase or witticism; often, a witty riposte in dialogue."
      ],
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        [
          "saying",
          "saying#Noun"
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        ],
        [
          "witticism",
          "witticism"
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        [
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          "witty"
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          "riposte",
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          "word": "quip"
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          "word": "remark"
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      "ipa": "/bɒ̃ məʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
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      "ipa": "/bɑn moʊ/",
      "tags": [
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      "tags": [
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  "synonyms": [
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      "word": "bonmot"
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      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "bonmot"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "bon mot"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ocorrencia"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Bonmot"
    },
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      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "bonmot"
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    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "bra melding"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
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      "tags": [
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      "word": "bon mot"
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      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "ostróta",
      "sense": "clever saying, phrase or witticism",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "остро́та"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bon mot"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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