entente cordiale

See also: entente-cordiale and Entente Cordiale

English

A friendly relationship, especially one between parties who might otherwise be adversaries or, at least, wary of one another.
- 1861 February 21, “The Incoming Administration: Mr. Lincoln in New-York”, in New York Times, retrieved 8 July 2015:
  His Reception and Speech at the City Hall. Entente Cordiale Between the Mayor and the President.
- 1895, John Kendrick Bangs, chapter 9, in Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica:
  Bonaparte's first act after providing lucrative positions for his family was to write another letter, couched in language of a most fraternal nature, to the King of England, asking for peace. "Dear Cousin George," he wrote, ". . . let us restore the entente cordiale and go about our business without any further scrapping."
- 1902, William Dean Howells, “The Man of Letters as a Man of Business”, in Literature and Life:
  ewer and fewer authors are turning from journalism to literature, though the ‘entente cordiale’ between the two professions seems as great as ever.
- 1913, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter 10, in The Day of Days:
  e grew unpleasantly sensitive to a drop in the temperature of the entente cordiale which had thus far obtained between himself and the gambler.
- 1918, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 24, in The Valley of the Giants:
  mbarrassment . . . had decided Bryce not to mention the matter of the girl to John Cardigan until the entente cordiale between Pennington and his father could be reestablished.
- 1963 February 15, “The Press: Through a Keyhole Darkly”, in Time, retrieved 8 July 2015:
  After a decade of scorched-earth warfare, Louella ("Lollipop") Parsons had sat down to public lunch with her rival, Hedda Hopper. The entente cordiale did not last, of course.
- 2009 April 30, Matt Scott, “Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger will be sharing a pizza next”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 8 July 2015:
  The new and surprising entente cordiale between Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, whose mutual antipathy has been a recurring feature of the Premier League era, appears to have its roots on a Scottish golf course.

Usage notes

Originally used as a common noun, this term has also become a proper noun, specifying the formal 1904 Anglo-French understanding. See Entente Cordiale.