cicerone

English

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Etymology

From Italian cicerone, from Latin Cicero, the Roman orator.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /t͡ʃɪt͡ʃəˈɹəʊni/, /sɪsəˈɹəʊni/

Noun

cicerone (plural ciceroni)

  1. A guide who shows people around tourist sights.
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 3:
      he was in the act of making his evening plans with the same smelly but nice cicerone in a café-au-lait suit whom he had hired already twice at the same Genoese hotel [...].
    • 1987, Michael Brodsky, Xman, p. 360:
      Ultimately their gazes all rested on his cicerone as most powerful member of the group.
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 279:
      “First,” advised their cicerone in the matter, Professor Svegli of the University of Pisa, “try to forget the usual picture in two dimensions.”

Translations


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Italian

Noun

cicerone m (plural ciceroni)

  1. A guide who shows people around tourist sights.
  2. (informal) A know-it-all or smart ass.

Anagrams

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Last modified on 9 January 2013, at 17:02