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écueil. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
écueil, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
écueil in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
écueil you have here. The definition of the word
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French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French escueil, borrowed from Old Occitan escueyll, from Vulgar Latin *scoculum, from Latin scopulus, from Ancient Greek.
Pronunciation
Noun
écueil m (plural écueils)
- (shallow) reef, shelf
- Synonym: récif
1874, Jules Verne, Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, sourced from :Le capitaine Baker se crut, tout d’abord, en présence d’un écueil inconnu- Captain Baker at first thought he was in the presence of an unknown reef
1921, Marcel Proust, chapter 2, in Sodome et Gomorrhe [Sodom and Gomorrah] (À la recherche du temps perdu):Tout en marchant à côté de moi, la duchesse de Guermantes laissait la lumière azurée de ses yeux flotter devant elle, mais dans le vague, afin d’éviter les gens avec qui elle ne tenait pas à entrer en relations et dont elle devinait parfois, de loin, l’écueil menaçant.- As she strolled by my side, the Duchesse de Guermantes allowed the azure light of her eyes to float in front of her, but vaguely, so as to avoid the people with whom she did not wish to enter into relations, whose presence she discerned at times, like a menacing reef in the distance.
- (figuratively) pitfall, stumbling block
- Synonym: pierre d’achoppement
- 1864, Rudolf Charles, Preface to Testament by Jean Meslier, page 9
...nous évitions autant que possible tous les écueils sur lesquels, d’après notre opinion, les associations antérieures avaient fait naufrage.- ...we avoided as much as possible all the pitfalls by which, in our opinion, the previous associations had been wrecked.
1923, Marcel Proust, chapter 2, in La Prisonnière [The Prisoner] (À la recherche du temps perdu):M. de Charlus me dit: "Dites donc à ce jeune Israélite, puisqu’il fait des vers, qu’il devrait bien m’en apporter pour Morel. Pour un compositeur c’est toujours l’écueil, trouver quelque chose de joli à mettre en musique. On pourrait même penser à un livret. […] "- M. de Charlus said to me: "You must tell your young Israelite, since he writes verses, that he must really bring me some for Morel. For a composer, that is always the stumbling block, to find something decent to set to music. "
References