soi-disant

English

Etymology

From French soi-disant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌswɑːdiːˈzɒ̃/, /swa diˈzɑn/

Adjective

soi-disant (not comparable)

1. (Of people) Self-styled; self-proclaimed (with implications of pretence or dishonesty).
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:

     Moreover, Lady Dudley flattered herself with filling the next best part to the principal, that of confidante with Mrs. Courtenaye. Constance had, however, too much good taste, as well as good feeling, for this; she had betrayed her jealousy, not confessed it. Still, this was enough for her soi-disant friend, who went on torturing her with stories about Lady Marchmont's powers of fascination, and Lady Marchmont's coquetry.

   • 2007 March 12, Zoe Williams, “The weekend's TV”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     "Fuck You, Buddy" is the first part in a series (The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom, Sunday, BBC2) about civil liberties: the keen-eared wireless listener will have been alerted to its soi-disant intellectual credentials by the fact that they are trailing it on Radio 4.

2. (Of things) claimed to be something it isn't; pretended, so-called.

   A soi-disant pedigree.

   • 1845, John Wilson Croker, s: Ess. French Revolution:

     cicumstances which appear to have influenced his soi-disant historical labours.

   • 1860, John Ruskin, Unto This Last, Cornhill:

     Among the delusions which at different periods have possessed themselves of the minds of large masses of the human race, perhaps the most curious -- certainly the least creditable -- is the modern soi-disant science of political economy, based on the idea that an advantageous code of social action may be determined irrespectively of the influence of social affection.

Adverb

soi-disant (not comparable)

1. supposedly

Anagrams

• stasidion

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swa.di.zɑ̃/

  • Audio

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃

Adjective

soi-disant (invariable)

1. self-proclaimed

   Synonym: autoproclamé

2. so-called, supposed (so named)

   Synonyms: présumé, prétendu

   une soi-disant réforme ― a so-called reform

Usage notes

• The use of soi-disant in the sense présumé (“so-called, presumed by others”) is sometimes regarded as incorrect.
• soit-disant is a misspelling.

Adverb

soi-disant

1. supposedly

Further reading

• “soi-disant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.