soigné

See also soigne

English

WOTD - 5 April 2009    

Alternative forms

• soigne

Etymology

From French soigné, from soigner.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈswɑː.njeɪ/, /swɑːˈnjeɪ/
• (US) IPA: /swɑˈnjeɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

soigné (not comparable)

1. Fashionable and elegant, well-groomed.
   • 1997 February 20, Steve Silberman, “Burroughs Pops Online Cherry with Drag Queens”, Wired:

     Custom Java apps and CU-SeeMe feeds will provide interaction with the battery of soigné psychics.

   • 1998 March 20, “The Tickled French”, Wall Street Journal Online, Dow Jones & Company:

     Inspired surely by the old socialist slogan "from cradle to grave," the soigné French health ministry will now also take care of the French in bed.

   • 2009 March 14, Vanessa Friedman, “Trends at Paris fashion week”, Financial Times, London:

     But a graceful scoop here, a soigné knot there, and voilà: Aphrodite meets the Eiffel Tower.

   • 2009 March 18, Curt Sanburn, “Where’s the Pink?”, Honolulu Weekly:

     The gleaming black stone floors of the lobby, the soigné pink-and-white awnings that shaded the beachfront Mai Tai Bar and Surf Room, the spacious lawns and gardens with the oldest and tallest coconut trees anywhere…all were touchstones for everything good about Hawaiian hospitality, for everything that was ever truly well done in Waikīkī.

Usage notes

The French feminine form soignée is often used instead when applied to a female.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /swaɲe/, SAMPA: /swa.Je/

Adjective

soigné m. (f. soignée, m. plural soignés, f. plural soignées)

1. immaculate (of clothes etc.); well-manicured (nails)
2. carefully made, well produced
3. meticulous (work)

Verb

soigné

1. Past participle of soigner

Anagrams

• Génois, génois, oignes