Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An unexpected and untoward event; an embarrassing conjuncture; a “hitch.”
- n. In music, same as syncopation.
Wiktionary
- n. An unforeseen, inopportune, or embarrassing event; a hitch
- n. fencing An ill-timed pass.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An unexpected and untoward accident; something inopportune or embarrassing; a hitch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an awkward clash
Etymologies
- French (Wiktionary)
- French : contre-, against (from Latin contrā-; see contra-) + temps, time (from Latin tempus). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The practical political effect of the Clinton contretemps is simple: Meek, already struggling badly for any traction in the race (polling suggests that his support runs in the high teens) looks hapless and hopeless at a time when voters want the exact opposite.”
“While the Clinton contretemps is absolutely fascinating -- particularly to veteran Clinton watchers like us -- it ultimately will have little effect on the race.”
The Washington Post: RGA drops $6.5 million in quartet of governors races
“Associated Press News analyst Juan Williams All these sentiments strike me as eminently reasonable, but my own view of the contretemps is slightly different.”
“I’ve been trying to puzzle through what to say about the Bush-Putin contretemps over US deployment of missile defense systems in central Europe.”
“But by now it's clear to everyone that there was no great PR strategy behind taking the artist / label contretemps public, and that the album's fortunes have been affected in the collateral damage. about what she calls the "supposed feud," insisting that she and her team remain a "tightly knit family" and saying, "A lot has been made in the press about my relationship with Clive.”
“Jack Bradley himself has been unavailable for comment, but bank spokesperson Wayne Taylor does concede that the contretemps is a no-win situation for everyone.”
“The French word "contretemps" means, among other things, "a note played against the beat".”
“I would like to experience more 'contretemps' in order to puruse artistic abilities.”
“AUDIO FILE: hear Jean-Marc pronounce the word "contretemps" and the related expressions (please check back later ... having computer mishaps, or "contretemps," this morning!)”
“Martinelli and the Americans went back and forth in a kind of contretemps over the wiretap matter, with the Panamanian president fretting that local authorities failed to benefit from Operation Matador.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘contretemps’.
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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Situation Normal
inspired by Mistakes Were Made. Words for things going wrong in a manner particularly violent, stupid, soul-crushing, boggling, grandiose, or any combination of these qualities.
writeoff, wreck, bust, washout, turkey, untergang, undoing, total loss, flop, muck up, louse-up, goof-up and 156 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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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...
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Loan words from French
gite, coq au vin, dernier cri, clique, hors d'œuvre, touché, naïve, coquette, bourgeois, contretemps, flâneur, film noir and 63 more...
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Better Words
Extremely fond of adjectives. To conquer phlegmatic speech and indolent phrases.
auric, hemispherical, quadrivial, adumbral, weighty, deuced, aliquot, commendable, anterior, osculant, ferly, enceinte and 26 more...
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Slam Fodder
Those words that will inevitable end up in a Slam Poem
feel free to challenge me!:)bumptious, gamekeeper, slamily, burbuliatorius, cryptomnesia, paradox, pulchritudinous, mimetic, anhedonia, skelf, rampike, furlough and 84 more...
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ymmez22's Words
despotic, fiefdom, demagogue, vignette, chavvy, esoteric, stalwarts, unpalatable, eradicated, rapacious, repugnant, zeitgeist and 89 more...
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apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Inopportune Event, Mishap
Nouns meaning inopportune event or mishap
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for contretemps.
smgrantham An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch. Mar 31, 2009
bilby As today's Word of the Day on dictionary.com, suggested pronunciation is \KAHN-truh-tahn\.
I'd rather eat rocks. Mar 31, 2009
palooka "An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an inopportune occurrence." AHD May 7, 2008