Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Foolishness or stupidity; a foolish or stupid act.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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In Pauline this finesse was partially concealed by a languor and indecision of manner and an occasional assumption of 'niaiserie'; or almost infantine simplicity; but this only threw people the more off their guard, and made her finesse the more sure in its operation.
Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon
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In Pauline this finesse was partially concealed by a languor and indecision of manner and an occasional assumption of 'niaiserie'; or almost infantine simplicity; but this only threw people the more off their guard, and made her finesse the more sure in its operation.
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'niaiserie'; or almost infantine simplicity; but this only threw people the more off their guard, and made her finesse the more sure in its operation.
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SIMPLICITÉ, _f. _, qualité de ce qui est simple; niaiserie.
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The thorough and shameless commercialism of Sex has alas! been reserved for what is called ` ` Christian civilization, '' and with it (perhaps as a necessary consequence) Prostitution and Syphilis have grown into appalling evils, accompanied by a gigantic degradation of social standards, and upgrowth of petty Philistinism and niaiserie.
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To see anything honest in such a man as Paul, whose home was at the centre of the Stoical enlightenment, when he converts an hallucination into a proof of the resurrection of the Saviour, or even to believe his tale that he suffered from this hallucination himself -- this would be a genuine niaiserie in a psychologist.
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Berlioz even went so far as to describe the overture as _une niaiserie incroyable_, and the vocal part sometimes shows the influence of the empty formulas from which Gluck was trying to escape.
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Lorsqu'on dédie un livre, on prévoit l'heure où l'ami le prend, jette un coup d'oeil et dit: 'Pourquoi m'a-t-il dédié une niaiserie pareille?'
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The thorough and shameless commercialism of Sex has alas! been reserved for what is called "Christian civilization," and with it (perhaps as a necessary consequence) Prostitution and Syphilis have grown into appalling evils, accompanied by a gigantic degradation of social standards, and upgrowth of petty Philistinism and niaiserie.
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For after all there is an amount of innocence and absent-mindedness in matters of daily human life, which is not only _niaiserie_, but comes very near to moral wrong.
qms commented on the word niaiserie
The French lend us more than their pastry.
Their language for blunders and japery
Is varied as cheese:
Faux pas and bêtise
And the typical bumpkin's niaiserie.
March 11, 2015