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Today's Word "contretemps"

Inopportune or embarrassing situation on

Published in Vocabulary

contretemps \KAHN-truh-tahn\ (noun) plural contretemps \-tahnz\ - An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch.

"Nathan was a fiercely ambitious and competitive man, as quick to take offenceas to give it in his business dealings, and it is not difficult to imagine him responding impetuously to such a contretemps." -- Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild

 

Contretemps comes from French, from contre, "against" (from Latin contra) + temps, "time" (from Latin tempus).


 

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