ci-devant

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English

Etymology

Borrowed from French ci-devant.

Adjective

ci-devant (not comparable)

  1. Former, late.
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, page 262:
      Hastily Beatrice performed both her own and Emily's toilette; for what with fatigue and terror, her companion was almost powerless: still their celerity excited the praise of the ci-devant professor of the fine arts.
    • 1846, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], Lucretia: Or The Children of Night. , volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, , →OCLC:
      The ci-devant marquis was caught disguised in her apartment. She betrayed for him a good, easy friend of the people who had long loved her, and revenge is sweet.
    • 1952, Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Empire (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part I: “The General”, chapter 1: ‘Search for Magicians’, page 10, ¶ 4
      The old patrician retreated noiselessly with a slow bow that was part of the ceremonious legacy left by a ci-devant aristocracy of the last century’s better days.
    • 2006, Marsha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried, Pimlico, published 2007, page 157:
      During art collecting tours in Italy, Townley worked with the eccentric scholar Baron d'Hancarville (ci-devant Pierre Françoise Hughes), a specialist in pornographic art []

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /si.d(ə).vɑ̃/
  • (file)

Adjective

ci-devant

  1. (archaic) former, one-time

Related terms

Descendants

  • English: ci-devant

Noun

ci-devant m or f by sense (plural ci-devant)

  1. (historical, French Revolution) former aristocrat

Further reading