Dictionary

contretemps en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɑːn.tɹə.tɑ̃/ (US)
• /ˈkɒn.tɹə.tɑ̃ŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French contretemps.

Meanings

1. An unforeseen, inopportune, or embarrassing event.
   • Mrs. Post was the center of a notable contretemps when she spilled a spoonful of berries at a dinner of the Gourmet Society here in 1938. 1960 June 13, “Emily Post Is Dead Here at 86; Writer was Arbiter of Etiquette”, in New York Times:
   • "I see that you are a born American citizen--and an earlier knowledge of that fact would have prevented this little contretemps. You are aware, Mr. Hoffman, that your name is German?" 1896, Bret Harte, The Indiscretion of Elsbeth:
   • The small flap over the pronunciation of her name was but the first, and the least, of the contretemps of the succeeding session. 1991, Rebecca Goldstein, The Dark Sister, Penguin Books, published 1993, page 37:
   • It is worth considering what the misperceptions about him might be if the whole “contretemps with Oprah,” as he calls it, hadn’t happened. 2018 June 26, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, “Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • The spat was just the latest in a series of contretemps between the RN and the AfD. 2024 May 4, Guy Chazan, Leila Abboud, “Le Pen strains ties with German far-right”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:
   • ...and said "she had been the most efficient friend of the charity;" and whether a whisper that had gone forth respecting her contretemps with the strange man was spread, or it had fortunately been so well managed by the Count as to have escaped observation... 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 2:
   • It won't rank with the doping scandals in track and field and baseball's steroid controversy but the Rose Cup race had its own little contretemps last year. 2004 June 13, Sunday Oregonian:
   • What a strange contretemps! Its suddenness left me temporarily speechless; the embarrassment of Duare was only too obvious. Yet it was that unusual paradox, a happy contretemps--for me at least. 1932, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter XII, in Pirates of Venus, published 1934:
2. An ill-timed pass.

Forms

Synonyms

mishap · hitch

Translations (18)

pt contratempo (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · pl spięcie (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · fr contretemps (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · sv missöde (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · nn uhell (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · pl kontratempo ((fencing) ill-timed pass) · pl scysja (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · sv streck i räkningen (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · sv motighet (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · de Unannehmlichkeit (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · de Zwischenfall (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · de Widrigkeit (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · nb strek i regningen (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · es contratiempo (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · nb uhell (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · nn strek i regninga (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · sv oförmodat hinder (an unforeseen or embarrassing event) · de unglücklicher Zufall (an unforeseen or embarrassing event)