Dictionary

outré en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /uˈtɹeɪ/

Etymology

French outré, form of outrer (“to go to excess”); see also outre (“beyond”).

Meanings

1. Beyond what is customary or proper; extravagant.
   • Her career as a performer, a model and a high priestess of the outré has been rooted for decades in catwalk-Kabuki mischief and provocation. 2015 October 22, Jeff Gordinier, “‘I’ll Never Write My Memoirs,’ Grace Jones’s Memoirs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • Are his patrons simply too giddy in this post-pandemic moment to muster sustained outrage over his outré behavior? 2021 July 17, Jacob Bernstein, “Keith McNally Stirs the Pot”, in The New York Times:
   • He hated people who did not know where to stop. Ernest was always so outré and strange; there was never any knowing what he would do next, except that it would be something unusual and silly. 1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 50, in The Way of All Flesh:
   • I believe I have been very rude; but really Miss Fairfax has done her hair in so odd a way—so very odd a way—that I cannot keep my eyes from her. I never saw any thing so outrée!—Those curls!—This must be a fancy of her own. I see nobody else looking like her! 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter VIII, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 152:
2. Very unconventional.
   • 1992, David Littlejohn, The Ultimate Art: Essays Around and About Opera, Chapter 16: The Twentieth Century Takes on Shakespeare, page 261, To begin with, King Lear is the most unconventional, the most nearly hysterical, the most outré and outrageous play Shakespeare ever wrote.

Forms

Deriveds

outréness

Synonyms

eccentric (unconventional) · outlandish (unconventional) · bizarre (unconventional)

Translations (18)

eo preterkonvena (beyond what is customary or proper) · cmn 偏离常规的 (very unconventional) · fi outo (very unconventional) · cmn 荒诞的 (very unconventional) · bg ексцентричен (very unconventional) · ru стра́нный (very unconventional) · nl excentriek (very unconventional) · fi omintakeinen (very unconventional) · ru шокирующий (very unconventional) · nl extravagant (very unconventional) · es extravagante (very unconventional) · de exzentrisch (very unconventional) · fi poikkeuksellinen (very unconventional) · ru эксцентричный (very unconventional) · fi äärimmäinen (very unconventional) · fi omituinen (very unconventional) · ru необы́чный (very unconventional) · de extravagant (very unconventional)