See l'esprit de l'escalier in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for l'esprit de l'escalier meaning in English (10.1kB)
{
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"2": "fr",
"3": "esprit de l'escalier",
"4": "esprit de l’escalier",
"lit": "mind of the staircase"
},
"expansion": "French esprit de l’escalier (literally “mind of the staircase”)",
"name": "bor"
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"2": "« l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier »"
},
"expansion": "« l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier »",
"name": "lang"
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],
"etymology_text": "Borrowed from French esprit de l’escalier (literally “mind of the staircase”), with the definite article le (“the”) at the beginning of the term. It refers to a description of the phenomenon in the essay Paradoxe sur le comédien (Paradox of the Actor, completed 1778 and published 1830) by the French encyclopedist and philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–1784). During a dinner at the home of the statesman Jacques Necker (1732–1804), Diderot was left speechless by a remark made to him. He wrote: « l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier » (“a sensitive man, such as myself, overwhelmed by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and can only think clearly again at the bottom of the stairs”), that is, when one is already on the way out of the house.",
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1971, Keith Thomas, “Astrology: Its Social and Intellectual Role”, in Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson; republished London: Folio Society, 2012, →OCLC, page 317",
"text": "‘I knew not then,’ he confessed, ‘but now I think…’ It is not necessary to follow Goad along the path taken by his esprit d'escalier to see how sheer intellectual pleasure was the driving-force behind such efforts.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Richard Kearney, “Epilogue”, in Anatheism: Returning to God after God (Insurrections), New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, part 3 (Postlude), page 182",
"text": "Some last thoughts in l'esprit de l'escalier—afterthoughts descending the stairwell as one remembers things unsaid.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Simmone Howell, Girl Defective, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, September 2015, pages 100–101",
"text": "I flashed on Nancy again. The French had a word for everything: even for that thing you wished you'd said. L'esprit de l'escalier. The wit of the staircase. What I wished I'd said was this: […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Christopher Fowler, Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart (A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, page 173",
"text": "'That's understandable,' said May, 'we get it all the time. L'esprit d'escalier—remembering what you should have said too late.'",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Zoë Wicomb, October: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: The New Press, page 112",
"text": "Later, l'esprit de l'escalier provided Mercia with: Glad you're in agreement/I haven't yet spoken/Is that a greeting/Yes indeed—but at the time, affronted, she grabbed at a couple of garments and announced, I'll try these.",
"type": "quotation"
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],
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"The phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed."
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"word": "afterwit"
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{
"word": "staircase wit"
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{
"word": "esprit de l'escalier"
},
{
"word": "esprit d'escalier"
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{
"word": "l'esprit d'escalier"
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{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "esprit de l'escalier"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opožděná duchaplnost"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"word": "tagantjärgi tark olema"
},
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"code": "fi",
"english": "remark",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"gender-neutral"
],
"word": "myöhään keksitty huomautus"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"word": "myöhään keksitty letkaus"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"english": "quip, retort",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"word": "myöhään keksitty sutkaus"
},
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"code": "fr",
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"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "esprit de l’escalier"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "esprit d’escalier"
},
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"code": "de",
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"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Treppenwitz"
},
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"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"adjective"
],
"word": "gáfaður eftir á"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "espírito da escada"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "zádnij um",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "за́дний ум"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "léstničnyj um",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ле́стничный ум"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "ostroúmije na léstnice",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "остроу́мие на ле́стнице"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic",
"feminine",
"slang"
],
"word": "касна па̏ме̄т"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"Roman",
"feminine",
"slang"
],
"word": "kasna pȁmēt"
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"code": "es",
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"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "espíritu del escalador"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ingenio de la escalera"
},
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"code": "yi",
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"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"neuter",
"plural"
],
"word": "טרעפּווערטער"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Denis Diderot",
"Jacques Necker",
"Paradox of the Actor"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
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"ipa": "/lɛˌspɹiː də lɛˈskaljeɪ/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/lɛˌspɹi də ˌlɛskəˈljeɪ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/lɛˌspɹi də ˈlɛskɑljeɪ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-eɪ (GA)"
}
],
"word": "l'esprit de l'escalier"
}
{
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{
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"2": "fr",
"3": "esprit de l'escalier",
"4": "esprit de l’escalier",
"lit": "mind of the staircase"
},
"expansion": "French esprit de l’escalier (literally “mind of the staircase”)",
"name": "bor"
},
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"2": "« l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier »"
},
"expansion": "« l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier »",
"name": "lang"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Borrowed from French esprit de l’escalier (literally “mind of the staircase”), with the definite article le (“the”) at the beginning of the term. It refers to a description of the phenomenon in the essay Paradoxe sur le comédien (Paradox of the Actor, completed 1778 and published 1830) by the French encyclopedist and philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–1784). During a dinner at the home of the statesman Jacques Necker (1732–1804), Diderot was left speechless by a remark made to him. He wrote: « l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier » (“a sensitive man, such as myself, overwhelmed by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and can only think clearly again at the bottom of the stairs”), that is, when one is already on the way out of the house.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
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"nolinkhead": "1"
},
"expansion": "l'esprit de l'escalier (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"l'es‧prit"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
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"examples": [
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"ref": "1971, Keith Thomas, “Astrology: Its Social and Intellectual Role”, in Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson; republished London: Folio Society, 2012, →OCLC, page 317",
"text": "‘I knew not then,’ he confessed, ‘but now I think…’ It is not necessary to follow Goad along the path taken by his esprit d'escalier to see how sheer intellectual pleasure was the driving-force behind such efforts.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Richard Kearney, “Epilogue”, in Anatheism: Returning to God after God (Insurrections), New York, N.Y., Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, part 3 (Postlude), page 182",
"text": "Some last thoughts in l'esprit de l'escalier—afterthoughts descending the stairwell as one remembers things unsaid.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2013, Simmone Howell, Girl Defective, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, September 2015, pages 100–101",
"text": "I flashed on Nancy again. The French had a word for everything: even for that thing you wished you'd said. L'esprit de l'escalier. The wit of the staircase. What I wished I'd said was this: […]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Christopher Fowler, Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart (A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, page 173",
"text": "'That's understandable,' said May, 'we get it all the time. L'esprit d'escalier—remembering what you should have said too late.'",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2014, Zoë Wicomb, October: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: The New Press, page 112",
"text": "Later, l'esprit de l'escalier provided Mercia with: Glad you're in agreement/I haven't yet spoken/Is that a greeting/Yes indeed—but at the time, affronted, she grabbed at a couple of garments and announced, I'll try these.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed."
],
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"phenomenon"
],
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"conversational"
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"rejoinder"
],
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"remark#Noun"
],
[
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"occur"
],
[
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"opportunity"
],
[
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"pass#Verb"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "afterwit"
},
{
"word": "staircase wit"
}
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
],
"wikipedia": [
"Denis Diderot",
"Jacques Necker",
"Paradox of the Actor"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/lɛˌspɹiː də lɛˈskaljeɪ/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/lɛˌspɹi də ˌlɛskəˈljeɪ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/lɛˌspɹi də ˈlɛskɑljeɪ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-eɪ (GA)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "esprit de l'escalier"
},
{
"word": "esprit d'escalier"
},
{
"word": "l'esprit d'escalier"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "esprit de l'escalier"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "opožděná duchaplnost"
},
{
"code": "et",
"lang": "Estonian",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"word": "tagantjärgi tark olema"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"english": "remark",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"gender-neutral"
],
"word": "myöhään keksitty huomautus"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"word": "myöhään keksitty letkaus"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"english": "quip, retort",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"word": "myöhään keksitty sutkaus"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "esprit de l’escalier"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "esprit d’escalier"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Treppenwitz"
},
{
"code": "is",
"lang": "Icelandic",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"adjective"
],
"word": "gáfaður eftir á"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "espírito da escada"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "zádnij um",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "за́дний ум"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "léstničnyj um",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ле́стничный ум"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "ostroúmije na léstnice",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "остроу́мие на ле́стнице"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"Cyrillic",
"feminine",
"slang"
],
"word": "касна па̏ме̄т"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"Roman",
"feminine",
"slang"
],
"word": "kasna pȁmēt"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "espíritu del escalador"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "ingenio de la escalera"
},
{
"code": "yi",
"lang": "Yiddish",
"roman": "trepverter",
"sense": "phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed",
"tags": [
"neuter",
"plural"
],
"word": "טרעפּווערטער"
}
],
"word": "l'esprit de l'escalier"
}
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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