démarche

See also: demarche and démarché

English

Alternative forms

• demarche

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French démarche, from Middle French, from 12th century demarcher (“to march”), from Old French demarchier, from de- + marchier.

Attested 1658, in sense “walk, step”; meaning “a diplomatic move” attested from 1670s.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /deɪˈmɑːʃ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /deɪˈmɑɹʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːʃ

Noun

démarche (plural démarches)

1. A diplomatic maneuver; one handled with finesse.
2. A diplomatic note without a personal attribution conveying an official protest or request for support, less formal than a bout de papier or a note verbale but of similar status to an aide-mémoire.
   • 2009, Ivor Roberts, Satow's Diplomatic Practice, 6th edition, page 54:

     A less formal way of making diplomatic representations or protests is called a démarche. The following from the US Department of State handbook sets out the typical procedures and purposes of a démarche.

   • 2012, Sotiris Rizas, The Rise of the Left in Southern Europe: Anglo-American Responses, unnumbered page:

     He did not question the Communist Party's conformity to Moscow, but he thought that the impact of a démarche would be limited since the Portuguese Communists could not afford to tone down their policies lest they be outflanked from the left.

   • 2014, Katrin Kinzelbach, The EU's Human Rights Dialogue with China: Quiet Diplomacy and Its Limits‎^[1], page 99:

     The EU made a démarche on 16 April 2003 calling for the continuation of discussions regarding this so-called “follow-up mechanism”, but beyond the one-off meeting, the mechanism never took off and was soon forgotten due to staff changes within the EU bureaucracy.

Translations

a diplomatic maneuver; one handled with finesse

• Greek: διάβημα (el) n (diávima)
• Hungarian: (diplomáciai) lépés
• Macedonian: дема́рш m (demárš)
• Russian: дема́рш (ru) m (demárš)

type of diplomatic note

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 照會／照会 (zh) (zhàohuì)

• Hungarian: demars (hu), tiltakozás (hu), írott/írásbeli felszólítás
• Macedonian: дема́рш m (demárš)
• Russian: дема́рш (ru) m (demárš)
• Turkish: protesto notası

French

Etymology

From dé- +‎ marche.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.maʁʃ/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: démarchent, démarches

Noun

démarche f (plural démarches)

1. gait, walk
2. step, procedure, move, intervention
3. reasoning

Descendants

• → English: démarche

Verb

démarche

1. inflection of démarcher:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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