English

Noun

raison d'êtres

1. plural of raison d'être
   • 1985, "Begin" by Rae Armantrout, in "Two Poems," boundary 2, published by Duke University Press, Vol. 14, No. 1/2, Autumn 1985 - Winter 1986, JSTOR, page 47:

     On Broadway
     where inflamed rudiments
     belt out their
     raison d'êtres.

   • 1990, Krishna Kumar, "Hindu Revivalism and Education in North-Central India," Social Scientist, Vol. 18, No. 10, Oct. 1990, JSTOR, pg. 4:

     Dissatisfaction with colonial education gave revivalism one of its raison d'êtres.

   • 2001, Jane McNamara, book review of Building Lives: Constructing Rites and Passages by Neil Harris, in The Public Historian (National Council on Public History), published by University of California Press, Vol. 23, No. 4, Autumn 2001, JSTOR, pg.126:

     Here in Los Angeles, where impression management and physical maintenance are not just rituals but raisons d'etres, focusing on these aspects of development has a special relevance.

Anagrams

• raisons d'etre, raisons d'être