dalliance
/ˈdæli.əns/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.24 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "As in the season of rutting (an uncouth phrase, by which the vulgar denote that gentle dalliance, which in the well-wooded forest of Hampshire, passes between lovers of the ferine kind),"
- "“Mark,” said Gabriel, sternly, “now you mind this: none of that dalliance-talk—that philandering way—that dandle-smack-and-coddle style of yours—about Miss Everdene. I don’t allow it. Do you hear?”"
- "If this were the case, his return showed that the struggle had been unsuccessful, for Lily knew he was not the man to waste his time in an ineffectual sentimental dalliance."
- "But that dalliance has been dashed in less than three months, with the developer now claiming the Trump brand is now too “toxic” to work with – and the Trump Organization responding that their local partner had provided only “empty promise, after empty promise”."
- "He had passed the officer now. There was no necessity for dalliance. He pressed the accelerator down a trifle."
- "Emerging, satiated, from the theatre, a public timepiece before a jeweller's shop confronted him with an unexpected dial and imminent perplexities. How was he to explain at home these hours of dalliance?"
Etymology
From Middle English daliaunce et al., from dalien (“to exchange pleasantries, to chat; to flirt”), from Old French dalier, dailer. By surface analysis, dally + -ance.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdæli.əns/
- British English: /ˈdælɪəns/