Commonly Used Foreign Words and Phrases
The English meanings given below are not necessarily literal translations.
Foreign words and phrases should be set in italics (or underlined if written
in long-hand) if their meanings are likely to be unknown to the reader.
Whether the expression is familiar or unfamiliar, however, is a matter of
judgment.
ad absurdum
[Lat.]: to the point of absurdity. “He tediously repeated his argument
ad absurdum.”
ad hominem
[Lat.]: attacking an opponent's character rather than answering his
argument. “As usual, any attempt on my part to discuss the matter
rationally was met with an ad hominem attack on my perceived
personality flaws.”
ad infinitum
[Lat.]: to infinity. “The lecture seemed to drone on ad infinitum.”
ad nauseam
[Lat.]: to a sickening degree. “The politician uttered one platitude
after another ad nauseam.”
aficionado
[Span.]: an ardent devotee. “I was surprised at what a baseball
aficionado she had become.”
annus mirabilis
[Lat.]: wonderful year. “Last year was the annus mirabilis for my
company.”
au courant
[Fr.]: up-to-date. “The shoes, the hair, the clothes—every last detail
of her dress, in fact—was utterly au courant.”
beau geste
[Fr.]: a fine or noble gesture, often futile. “My fellow writers
supported me by writing letters of protest to the publisher, but their
beau geste could not prevent the inevitable.”
beau monde
[Fr.]: high society. “Such elegant decor would impress even the
beau monde.”
bête noire
[Fr.]: something or someone particularly disliked. “Talk of the good
old college days way back when had become his bête noire, and he
began to avoid his school friends.”
bona fide
[Lat.]: in good faith; genuine. “For all her reticence and modesty, it
was clear that she was a bona fide expert in her field.”
bon mot
[Fr.]: a witty remark or comment. “One bon mot after another flew
out of his mouth, charming the audience.”
bon vivant
[Fr.]: a person who lives luxuriously and enjoys good food and
drink. “It's true he's quite the bon vivant, but when he gets down to
business he conducts himself like a Spartan.”
carpe diem
[Lat.]: seize the day. “So what if you have an 8:00 a.m. meeting
tomorrow and a full day of appointments? Carpe diem!”
carte blanche
[Fr.]: unrestricted power to act on one's own. “I may have carte
blanche around the office, but at home I'm a slave to my family's
demands.”
caveat emptor
[Lat.]: let the buyer beware. “Before you leap at that real estate deal,
caveat emptor!”
comme ci comme ça
[Fr.]: so-so. “The plans for the party strike me as comme ci comme
ça.”
comme il faut
[Fr.]: as it should be; fitting. “His end was truly comme il faut.”
coup de grâce
[Fr.]: finishing blow. “After an already wildly successful day, the
coup de grâce came when she won best all-around athlete.”
cri de coeur
[Fr.]: heartfelt appeal. “About to leave the podium, he made a final
cri de coeur to his people to end the bloodshed.”
de gustibus non est disputandum
[Lat.]: there is no arguing in matters of taste. “Shaking his head at the
tinsel-town ostentation of the casino, he mumbled, ‘de gustibus non
est disputandum.’”
de rigueur
[Fr.]: strictly required, as by etiquette, usage, or fashion. “Loudly
proclaiming one's support for radical causes had become de rigueur
among her crowd.”
deus ex machina
[Lat.]: a contrived device to resolve a situation. “Stretching
plausibility, the movie concluded with a deus ex machina ending in
which everyone was rescued at the last minute.”
dolce vita
[Ital.]: sweet life; the good life perceived as one of physical pleasure
and self-indulgence. “My vacation this year is going to be two
uninterrupted weeks of dolce vita.”
*Doppelgänger
[Ger.]: a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person. “I could
not shake the sense that some shadowy Doppelgänger* echoed my
every move.”
ecce homo
[Lat.]: behold the man. “The painting depicted the common
Renaissance theme, ecce homo—Christ wearing the crown of
thorns.”
éminence grise
[Fr.]: gray eminence; power behind the throne. “All but the most
unperceptive realized that the general was the éminence grise
behind the puppet ruler.”
enfant terrible
[Fr.]: an incorrigible child; an outrageously outspoken or bold
person. “Again he played the role of enfant terrible, jolting us with
his blunt assessment; yet I was secretly thrilled that the truth had
come out in such a flagrant manner.”
entre nous
[Fr.]: between ourselves; confidentially. “Entre nous, their marriage
is on the rocks.”
ex cathedra
[Lat.]: with authority; used especially of those pronouncements of the
pope that are considered infallible. “I resigned myself to obeying; my
father's opinions were ex cathedra in our household.”
ex post facto
[Lat.]: retroactively. “I certainly hope that the change in policy will be
honored ex post facto.”
fait accompli
[Fr.]: an accomplished fact, presumably irreversible. “There's no use
protesting—it's a fait accompli.”
faux pas
[Fr.]: a social blunder. “Suddently, she realized she had unwittingly
committed yet another faux pas.”
*Feinschmecker
[Ger.]: gourmet. “No, I don't think McDonald's will do; he's much
too much of a Feinschmecker.”
flagrante delicto
[Lat.]: in the act. “The detective realized that without hard evidence
he had no case; he would have to catch the culprit flagrante
delicto.”
glasnost
[Rus.]: open and frank discussion: initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in
1985 in the Soviet Union. “Once the old chairman retired, the spirit
of glasnost pervaded the department.”
hoi polloi
[Gk.]: the common people. “Marie Antoinette recommended cake
to the hoi polloi.”
in loco parentis
[Lat.]: in the place of a parent. “Put those cigarettes away young
man; while you're with me consider my word in loco parentis.”
in medias res
[Lat.]: in the middle of things. “The story began in medias res; it
was clear from the first lines that some kind of horrendous calamity
had already befallen the characters.”
in situ
[Lat.]: situated in the original or natural position. “I prefer seeing
statues in situ rather than in the confines of a museum.”
in vino veritas
[Lat.]: in wine there is truth. “By the end of drunken banquet, several
of the guests had made a good deal of their private lives public,
prompting the host to murmur to his wife, ‘in vino veritas.’”
ipso facto
[Lat.]: by the fact itself. “An extremist, ipso facto, cannot become
part of a coalition.”
je ne sais quoi
[Fr.]: I know not what; an elusive quality. “She couldn't explain it,
but there was something je ne sais quoi about him that she found
devastatingly attractive.”
*Kinder, Kirche, Küche
[Ger.]: children, church, kitchen. “She realized that her entire life had
been devoted to Kinder, Kirche, Küche.”
mano a mano
[Span.]: a direct confrontation or conflict. “‘Stay out of it,’ he
admonished his friends, ‘I want to handle this guy mano a mano.’”
mea culpa
[Lat.]: I am to blame. “His mea culpa was so offhand that I hardly
think he meant it.”
memento mori
[Lat.]: a reminder that you must die. “The skull rested on the
mantlepiece as a memento mori.”
modus operandi
[Lat.]: a method of operating. “Her modus operandi is to
sugar-coat the truth so thoroughly that the news almost seems
welcome.”
mot juste
[Fr.]: the exact, appropriate word. “‘Rats!’ screamed the defiant
three-year-old, immensely proud of his mot juste.”
ne plus ultra
[Lat.]: the most intense degree of a quality or state. “Pulling it from
the box, he realized he was face to face with the ne plus ultra of
computers.”
nom de guerre
[Fr.]: pseudonym. “He went by his nom de guerre when frequenting
trendy nightclubs.”
nom de plume
[Fr.]: pen name. “Deciding it was time to sit down and write a novel,
the would-be writer spent the first several hours deciding upon a
suitably dashing nom de plume.”
nota bene
[Ital.]: note well; take notice. “She appended her suggestions to the
manuscript, underlining the words nota bene for added emphasis.”
persona non grata
[Lat.]: unacceptable or unwelcome person. “Once I was cut out of
the will, I became persona non grata among my relatives.”
pro bono
[Lat.]: done or donated without charge; free. “The lawyer's pro
bono work gave him a sense of value that his work on behalf of the
corporation could not.”
quid pro quo
[Lat.]: something for something; an equal exchange. “She vowed that
when she had the means, she would return his favors quid pro quo.”
sans souci
[Fr.]: carefree. “Their mood was definitely sans souci.”
savoir faire
[Fr.]: the ability to say and do the correct thing. “She presided over
the gathering with impressive savoir faire.”
sic transit gloria mundi
[Lat.]: thus passes away the glory of the world. “Watching the aging
former football quarterback lumber down the street, potbellied and
dissipated, his friend shook his head in disbelief and muttered, ‘sic
transit gloria mundi.’”
sine qua non
[Lat.]: indispensable. “Lemon is the sine qua non of this recipe.”
terra incognita
[Lat.]: unknown territory. “When the conversation suddenly
switched from contemporary fiction to medieval Albanian
playwrights, he felt himself entering terra incognita.”
tout le monde
[Fr.]: everybody; everyone of importance. “Don't miss the event; it's
bound to be attended by tout le monde.”
veni, vidi, vici
[Lat.]: I came, I saw, I conquered. “After the takeover the business
mogul gloated, ‘veni, vidi, vici.’”
verboten
[Ger.]: forbidden, as by law; prohibited. “That topic, I am afraid, is
verboten in this household.”
vox populi
[Lat.]: the voice of the people. “My sentiments echo those of the
vox populi.”
*Wanderjahr
[Ger.]: a year or period of travel, especially following one's
schooling. “The trio took off on their Wanderjahr soon after they
graduated, planning to circle the globe by bicycle.”
*Weltanschauung
[Ger.]: a comprehensive conception or image of the universe and of
humanity's relation to it. “His Weltanschauung gradually
metamorphized from a grim and pessimistic one to a sunny, but no
less complex, view.”
*Zeitgeist
[Ger.]: the spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling
characteristic of a particular period of time. “She blamed it on the
Zeitgeist, which encouraged hedonistic excess.”
*German nouns are capitalized. A familiar German expression that is not italicized,
however, should be lowercased, following the English conventions of not
capitalizing common nouns. “His proclivities leaned more to the occult than to the
philosophical: a poltergeist he could understand; the Zeitgeist he could not.”