Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Great brilliance, as of performance or achievement.
- n. Conspicuous success.
- n. Great acclamation or applause.
- n. Archaic Notoriety; scandal.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A burst, as of applause; acclamation; approbation: as, his speech was received with great éclat.
- n. Brilliant effect; brilliancy of success; splendor; magnificence: as, the éclat of a great achievement.
- n. Renown; glory.
Wiktionary
- n. A brilliant or successful effect; brilliance of success or effort; splendor; brilliant show; striking effect; glory; renown.
Etymologies
- French, brilliance, from Old French esclat, splinter, from esclater, to burst out, splinter, probably of Germanic origin.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘éclat’.
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Tricky Words from French
Loanwords from French -- both established and wet behind the ears -- that are tricky to spell or pronounce properly.
trompe l'oeil, hors d'oeuvre, oeuvre, objet d'art, objet trouvé, contretemps, milieu, métier, mise en scène, mise en place, éclat, faineant and 64 more...
Dan337 (I started thumbing through my copy for it, but Google’s faster.)
“Bankruptcy and repudiation are the spring-boards from which much of our civilization vaults and turns its somersets, but the savage stands on the unelastic plank of famine. Yet the Middlesex Cattle Show goes off here with éclat annually, as if all the joints of the agricultural machine were suent.”
— Henry David Thoreau. “Economy”. Walden. 1854. Sep 24, 2011
bilby Cite it here the same way you made your comment. Jul 23, 2010
niels The best known usage is probably from from Thoreau's Walden (pg 21), but I don't see how I can add another example. Jul 22, 2010