sangfroid
/sɑŋˈfɹɑ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.22 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Composure, self-possession or imperturbability especially when in a dangerous situation.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "He handled the stressful situation with great sangfroid."
- "The provincial people, intimidated by Gudrun’s perfect sang-froid and exclusive bareness of manner, said of her: “She is a smart woman.""
- "We can handle functions of a few variables with some aplomb and view sets of quantities totalling 10⁶ or 10⁷ with sangfroid."
- "Indeed, some of the little naked human figures seemed to display a near comical sangfroid, even as they were pecked by giant birds, hatched out of eggs, had huge flowers inserted in their bottoms, or, in the case of one of my favourites, sported a monstrous blueberry instead of a head."
- "Toward the end of the war, Benoit was sent off on his own with forged papers; he wound up working as a horse groom at a chalet in the Loire valley. Mandelbrot describes this harrowing youth with great sangfroid."
- "If there’s one unspoken club rule, it’s that when we meet, we only discuss the play in question: no gossip; no politics; no families; and no football. As an association, we demonstrate near-Olympic sang-froid."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French