Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Contretemps |
ContretempsNoun1. An awkward clash; "he tried to smooth over his contretemps with the policeman". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "contretemps" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1900. (references) |
Etymology: Contretemps \Con`tre*temps"\, noun. [French expression, from contre (L. conta) temps time, from the Latin expression tempus.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Contretemps (French). A mischance, something inopportune. Literally, "out of time." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Adversity | Mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune; disaster, calamity, catastrophe; accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub; backset, comedown, setback. |
Hindrance | Impediment, let, obstacle, obstruction, knot, knag; check, hitch, contretemps, screw loose, grit in the oil. |
Untimeliness | Intempestivity, unseasonableness, inexpedience; unsuitable time, improper time; unreasonableness; adj; evil hour; contretemps; intrusion; anachronism. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Contretemps |
| Non-English Usage: "Contretemps" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. French (inconvenience, setback). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Contretemps" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 88.89% of the time. "Contretemps" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 88.89% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Noun (singular) | 11.11% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 9 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
contretemps | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "contretemps"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | unglücklicher Zufall (mischance). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | αναποδιά (hitch, misadventure, setback). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ontretempscay contratempo (annoyance, backset, buffet, disappointment, inconvenience, misadventure, misfortune, mishap, setback, trouble), imprevisto (sudden, surprising, uncontemplated, undesigned, unexpected, unforeseen, unlooked-for, unpredictable). (various references) contratimp. (various references) contratiempo (accident, check, mishap, reverse, setback, upset). (various references) tâlihsizlik (fatality, hard line, ill luck, inauspiciousness, infelicity, mischance, misfortune, mishap), pot (atrocity, bloomer, blunder, Boner, break, clanger, crease, faux pas, gaff, jackpot, kitty, pool, pot, stake), gaf (atrocity, bloomer, blunder, Boner, break, bull, clanger, faux pas, flub, gaff, gaffe, goof, howler, slip, slip of the tongue, slip up), ÅŸanssızlık (adversity, bad, bad luck, blow, hard line, hard luck, hoodoo, ill luck, mischance, misfortune, rotten luck, sorrow), aksilik (awkwardness, bile, contrariety, contrariness, crossness, dourness, fractiousness, gruffness, hardness, hitch, ill luck, misadventure, misfortune, mishap, moodiness, moods, perversity, petulance, recalcitrance, reverse, rotten luck, setback, slip, slip up, sullenness, surliness, tantrum, testiness, trouble, vexatiousness). (various references) раптове уÑкладненнÑ, неприÑ"мніÑÑ‚ÑŒ (disagreement, displeasure, mess, nuisance, plague, trouble, ungratefulness, vexation). (various references) chuyện trá»› trêu, chuyện bất trắc, sá»± trắc trở sá»± không may. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Contretemps" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: comtretemps, contretemp, contretempe, contrtemps. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "contretemps" (pronounced kÄ"ntrute'mps) |
| 3 | -m p s | Blimps, bumps, camps, Champs, chimps, clamps, clumps, cramps, crimps, damps, dumps, glimpse, jumps, lamps, limps, lumps, mumps, pimps, pumps, ramps, revamps, slumps, stamps, stumps, swamps, tamps, temps, thumps, trumps, unclamps, wimps. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-e-m-n-o-p-r-s-t-t" | |
-2 letters: competent, contempts, contester, copresent, entrepots, trecentos. | |
-3 letters: compeers, comperes, competes, contempt, corpsmen, entrepot, percents, portents, postteen, potences, potteens, precents, proettes, protects, remotest, tempters, torments, trecento, treetops. | |
-4 letters: cements, cenotes, centers, centres, cermets, coempts, compeer, compere, compete, contest, copters, cornets, cotters, crepons, emoters, encores, estrone, mentors, meteors, metopes, monster, moreens, necrose, netters, openers, openest. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-e-m-n-o-p-r-s-t-t" | |
+5 letters: compartmentalise, pancreatectomies. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Usage Frequency | 5. Expressions: Internet 6. Translations: Modern 7. Derivations 8. Rhymes | 9. Anagrams 10. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
