English

Noun

Merveilleuse ‎(plural Merveilleuses)

1. (historical) A fashionable young Frenchwoman of the late 18th-century, characterized by extravagant dress sense and anti-revolutionary ideas.
   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 542:

     There were the mad fashions sported by the extraordinarily (by turns over- and under-) dressed Incroyables and Merveilleuses, the guzzling of champagne, and the ingestion of bountiful meals in smart restaurants (a recent invention).

   • 2007, Helen Constantine, translating Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons (1782), Penguin 2007, p. 111:

     You are the reason I arrived indecently late at Madame de Volanges's and had all the old ladies thinking I was a Merveilleuse.

   • 2006, Andrew Hussey, Paris: The Secret History, Penguin 2007, p. 270:

     The female equivalents were called Merveilleuses and adopted Greek dress and espoused a neo-classical nostalgia.

French

Etymology

Noun use of feminine form of merveilleux ‘marvellous’.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛʁvɛjøz/

Noun

Merveilleuse f ‎(plural Merveilleuses)

1. Merveilleuse

English

Alternative forms

• Merveilleuse

Noun

merveilleuse ‎(plural merveilleuses, masculine merveilleux)

1. (historical) A female merveilleux.

Translations

French

Adjective

merveilleuse

1. feminine singular of merveilleux