repartée
/ɹˌɛpɚtˈi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Alternative form of repartee.
Example Sentences
- "In what country but England could the epigrammatic repartées and spiritual anecdotes of a Jekyll have flourished?"
- "She was quite famous for her conversational powers and talents for repartée."
- "Some very sharp and cutting repartées passed after dinner, amongst others that of Admiral Tchitschagoff to General Ouvaroff, related in a preceding page."
- "“No heart can resist her when she smiles and tries her repartée, even in this presence,” said Lady Lucie. “A power of repartée is a great thing, girl; it becomes a fine woman better than diamonds.[…]”"
- "Although she and Father were opposites in so many ways, when it came to repartée and telling stories, they were like a brilliantly matched tennis team."
- "There are the repartées, the verbal pirouettes of the servant gagsters."
Etymology
Pseudo-Gallicism, derived from repartee with an acute accent over the second e based on the false assumption that the word was directly borrowed from *repartée, the actual French word being repartie. Compare devotée and toupée, which have similar etymologies.