tête-à-tête
See also: tete-a-tete
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French tête-à-tête (“head-to-head”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌtɛt.əˈtɛt/, /ˌteɪt.əˈteɪt/
Noun
tête-à-tête (plural tête-à-têtes)
- A face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.
- 2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian (London):
- Fernandinho and Fernando made Yaya Touré’s absence not feel important and Mourinho became so agitated it required a tête-à-tête with Mark Clattenburg on the touchline.
-
- A bench or sofa that allows two people to talk face-to-face.
- A variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil.
Translations
a face-to-face meeting
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Adverb
tête-à-tête (not comparable)
- In private, between two people; head-to-head.
- 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
- Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […]
- 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 10:
- In particular his tête-à-tête luncheons were described, to which, as it now turned out, practically every journalist listening had at one time or another been invited.
- 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tɛ.ta.tɛt/
Audio (France) (file) Audio (Quebec) (file) Audio (CAN) (file)
Further reading
- “tête-à-tête” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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