Definitions
Wiktionary
- rare, idiomatic Thinking of an idea or course of action too late to use it effectively, or the tendency to do so.
Etymologies
- A calque of French l'esprit de l'escalier. (Wiktionary)
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘staircase wit’.
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phraseologue ⊃ the one-two punch
short (mostly two-word) collocations, pat phrases, idioms &c. that I like
merry chase, glancing blow, beast mode, feedback loop, false flag, dear god, nothing human, deflector shield, hatchet job, not cricket, bang on, a tinker's damn and 253 more...
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A Salpicon of Random Palavery
More random words and phrases that reflect my eclectic, stream-of-consciousess style of word and idea gathering.
durometer, mock-grudge, nimini-pimini, chrisom, sine metu, monteverdian, tagh, monodic, sharakan, watermen, wherrymen, winged gudgeon and 137 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for staircase wit.
reesetee Also see esprit d'escalier and l'esprit de l'escalier. Sep 22, 2009
hernesheir L'espirit de l'escalier - coined by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) - meaning the clever retort one thinks of when heading down the stairs after an argument in the drawing room. "I should have said..." Sep 20, 2009