Dictionary

recherché en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɹəˌʃɛɹˈʃeɪ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French recherché; more at French rechercher. Doublet of ricercata.

Meanings

1. Sought out and chosen with care; choice; exquisite.
   • The evening meal was "a repast of most recherché description," involving an endless series of toasts to almost everybody (with the notable exception of the other railway already serving Brentford, which came in for some hard knocks from various speakers). 1960 February 14, R. K. Kirkland, “The Great Western and Brentford Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 79:
   • Mangostanes, the recherché fruit of the Straits Settlements, are found in the Islands of Mindanao and Sulu. 1892, John Foreman, The Philippine Islands, page 375:
   • Stores, dealerships, galleries struggled to satisfy the skyrocketing demand for ever more recherché produce: limited-edition olive oils, three-hundred-dollar corkscrews, customized Humvees, the latest anti-virus software, escort services featuring contortionists and twins, video installations, outsider art, featherlight shawls made from the chin-fluff of extinct mountain goats. 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 3:
   • Stevens opened the door and proceeded to bring in a most recherché meal. An omelette was followed by quails and the very lightest things in soufflés. 1929, Agatha Christie, The Seven Dials Mystery:
   • After runway shows he [Jonathan Anderson] seems unfazed by the hectic scrum encircling him as he expounds on the various recherché influences behind the collection. 2025 June 7, Carola Long, “Dior’s playful new creative director”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7:
2. Exotic; of rare quality, elegance, attractiveness, etc.
3. (broadly) Precious, pretentious, affected.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:recherché.

Forms

Relateds

research · recherche du temps perdu