Meaning of bon mot | Babel Free

Definitions

A clever saying, phrase, or witticism; often, a witty riposte in dialogue.

Equivalents

Examples

“But ſo it is: our Writer has met with a Bon Mot of this Cato’s; which, according to his ſhallow Underſtanding and ſilly Interpretation, he preſages will ever live⟳ as a noble Free-thinking Saying.”

“―In England, dear Sir, ſaid I, we ſit all at our eaſe. The old French officer would have⟳ ſet me at unity with myſelf, in caſe I had been at variance,—by ſaying it was a bon mot—and as a bon mot is always worth ſomething at Paris, he offered me a pinch of ſnuff.”

“And if a few of these bon mots so selected be well known, they possess⟳ such acknowledged excellence, that the compiler would be justly censured, were he to deprive his readers of the pleasure of seeing them inserted in a work⟳ of this kind.”

“M. de Pomponne conjures her not to let⟳ Mme. Cornuel's bons mots perish, but to keep⟳ a register⟳ of them. Saint-Simon describes Mme. Cornuel as a "vieille bourgeoise du Marais," who was "full of bons mots, but of bons mots that are apophthegms."”

“In the lone novel of his career, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the goading Lord Henry cannot seem to help⟳ himself from delivering bon mot after bon mot. Word-play and paradoxical summation was a compulsion for [Oscar] Wilde.”

“Summing up a complex analysis [...] we can say⟳ that [Peter] Pilz succeeds in turning Mayr's fierce endeavours of enforcement against himself, and his bonmot about the state of politics during socialist rule⟳ becomes widely cited in the next day's press⟳.”

CEFR level