arrière-pensée
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French arrière-pensée.
Noun
arrière-pensée (plural arrière-pensées)
- a mental reservation or ulterior motive
- 1884, Henry James, "The Path of Duty" in The English Illustrated Magazine 2(15): 240–256.
- He knew that I had guessed his arrière-pensée, but he let me off for the moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was still ashamed of it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for the catastrophe,—should it occur.
- 1884, Henry James, "The Path of Duty" in The English Illustrated Magazine 2(15): 240–256.
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /aʁjɛʁpɑ̃se/
Further reading
- “arrière-pensée” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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