Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Fierce; wild: an artist who was farouche even in everyday life.
- adj. Exhibiting withdrawn temperament and shyness coupled with an air of cranky, often sullen fey charm: "small, farouche poems illustrated with doodles, a cross between Ogden Nash and Blake” ( Rosemary Dinnage).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Distant or repellent in manner; unsociable; shy.
Wiktionary
- adj. Sullen or recalcitrant.
Etymologies
- French, from Old French faroche, alteration of forasche, from Late Latin forāsticus, belonging outside, from Latin forās, out of doors; see foreign.
Examples
“Mirabeau (who was to be the father of the famous orator) was a man of talent, but violent, chimerical and lawless, "farouche," as he himself put it.”
“His ascendancy among his countrymen was perfectly undisputed, and being possessed of great muscular strength, with that peculiarly "farouche" exterior, without which courage is nothing in France, he was in every way calculated for the infamous leadership he assumed.”
“In the meantime also if you ask me, some of these straight boys are enjoying the farouche walk-on-the-wild-side thrill of going there.”
““Lúlúah,” which may mean the Union-pearl; but here used in the sense of wild cow, the bubalus antelope, alluding to the farouche nature of Miss Jamilah.”
“By these she was adored, and loved like a mother almost, for as such the hearty kindly girl showed herself to them; but at home she was alone, farouche and intractable, and did battle with the governesses, and overcame them one after another.”
“I notice the most farouche men do when they are engaged.”
“I could only see him in profile; but there was no mistaking the white moustache, the farouche visage, and the gaunt six-foot stature.”
“His manner was superficially assured, underneath perhaps half-savage, shy and farouche, and deprecating.”
“‘Watch the stairs!’ said Ramón in Spanish to her, glancing at her with farouche eyes, from some far remote jungle.”
“He fumbled in a farouche way, confused as to whether to kiss her hand or to shake it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘farouche’.
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7762 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
knitandpurl "I've never liked Richmond Park's contrived ambience of the farouche — a centuries' old shtick."
Psychogeography by Will Self, 30 Oct 11, 2010
bilby "Undie shops run a staple line in playful pantees with clefts in the crotch and cheering inscriptions upon them, all diaphanous and vivid in black and white or red or leopard-skin for the truly farouche."
- 'Going Without', Germaine Greer in The Sunday Times, 1971. Apr 13, 2008
reesetee 1. fierce.
2. sullenly unsociable or shy. Feb 12, 2008