aperçu

English

WOTD – 22 November 2011    

Etymology

Borrowing from French aperçu.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˌa.pɛːˈsuː/

Noun

aperçu (plural aperçus)

1. A clever insight.
   • 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.

2. A summary or outline; words that summarize.

Translations

clever insight

• Finnish: kiteytys (fi), tiivistelmä (fi), yhteenveto (fi)

• German: Aperçu (de) n

summary

• Finnish: kiteytys (fi), yleiskatsaus (fi)

• Hindi: सिंहावलोकन (hi) (Siṃhāvalokana)

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /apɛʁsy/

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.

Verb

aperçu m (feminine aperçue, masculine plural aperçus, feminine plural aperçues)

1. Past participle of apercevoir