aperçu

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 Quotations 2 French 2.1 Noun 2.2 Verb

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From French aperçu.

[edit] Noun

aperçu (plural aperçus)

1. a clever insight

[edit] Quotations

• 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming Pool Library, Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 143

  I insisted on how his opinion mattered, and developed and construed his platitudes into aperçus he was far from entertaining himself.

• 2001, David Brooks, "One Nation, Slightly Divisible", The Atlantic Monthly, December,

  In this place you can go to a year's worth of dinner parties without hearing anyone quote an aperçu he first heard on Charlie Rose.

• 2004, Manohla Dargis, "Do You Hear Sleigh Bells? Nah, Just Tom Hanks and Some Train" (Polar Express movie review), New York Times, 10 November,

  "Every so often a hobo (Mr. Hanks again) materializes to dispense a cryptic aperçu to the boy, maybe because the child is the father of the man or because the film's envelope-pushing gobbled up most of the budget and there was only enough money for one star." -

• 2009, Maureen Dowd, "Dark Dark Dark" (Editorial), New York Times, 21 February,

  President Obama disdains sound bites, and he does not have Bill Clinton’s talent for reducing the abstruse to aperçus.

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[edit] French

[edit] Noun

aperçu m. (plural aperçus)

1. glance, glimpse
2. insight, hint. L’avocat a donné au public un aperçu de la cause. The lawyer gave the public an insight into the case.
3. rough estimate. Donnez-moi un aperçu des dépenses que j’aurai à faire. Give me an estimate of the expenses that I would have.
4. sketch, outline, summary
5. view
6. overview Ce que je vous dis là n’est qu’un aperçu de la question. What I say here is an overview of the issue.
7. preview. Il y a dans cet ouvrage des aperçus très fins, mais rien n’est développé. There are fine previews in this book, but nothing developed.

[edit] Verb

aperçu

1. Past participle of apercevoir.