Foreign Vocab Flashcards
ad hominem
appealing to feeling or prejudices rather than intellect
adieu
farewell (French)
au contraire
on the contrary (French)
belle
pretty (French)
bildungsroman
a novel dealing with one person’s formative years or spiritual education (German)
blase
having or showing a lack of excitement or interesting in something particularly when it is very familiar.
c’est la vie
that’s life (French)
cachet
an indication of approval carrying great prestige, like a stamp.
carte blanche
complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best, blank check (French)
charlatan
a fraud (English)
doppelganger
a double of a living person (French)
double entendre
a word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is usually risqué or indecent (French?)
elan
energy, enthusiasim (?)
ennui
boredom (French)
ergo
therefore (?)
et al
and others
fait accompli
a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept
gauche
unsophisticated or socially awkward
in medias res
in the middle of a narative
je ne sais quoi
a pleasant quality that Is hard to describe
joie de vivre
a feeling of happiness or excitement about life
n.b.
used to indicate that special attention should be paid to something (Latin)
persona non grata
an unacceptable or unwelcome person
post hoc ergo propter hoc
after this, therefore because of this
quid pro quo
something given or received in exchange for something else
re
in the matter of
red herring
something, esp. a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting
tete-a-tete
a private conversation between two people
vis-a-vis
face-to-face
zeitgeist
the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time
