monstre sacré
English
Etymology
From French monstre sacré (literally “holy monster”).
Noun
monstre sacré (plural monstres sacrés)
- A striking, unusual public figure; an eccentric celebrity.
- 1994 [1976], Patrick O'Brian, Picasso: A Biography, London: Harvill, page 372:
- […] Picasso changed, or was changed, from a capital painter, known as such a painter should be known, into a monstre sacré, a holy cow surrounded with an enormous, self-perpetuating, inescapable, and generally irrelevant notoriety.
- 2002, Jann Parry, The Observer, 27 January:
- Ken Russell's BBC film (with Vivian Pickles) and Kenneth MacMillan's Isadora ballet portrayed her as a grotesque monstre sacre.
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French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɔ̃s.tʁə sa.kʁe/
Noun
monstre sacré m (plural monstres sacrés)
- (figuratively) giant, celebrity (undisputed authority in a certain field)
- 1954, Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse:
- Je passai près d'une heure agréable avec lui mais Elsa s'ennuyait. Elle connaissait un ou deux monstres sacrés mais la technique ne l'intéressait pas.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2015 June 15, “E3 : « Doom », les limites de la surenchère gore”, in Le Monde:
- Un monstre sacré de l’histoire du jeu vidéo s’apprête à faire son retour, au printemps 2016, et on a presque eu envie d’en savoir plus.
- A giant of video gaming history is about to make its return, in spring 2016, and we're nearly ready to know more about it.
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Descendants
- → English: monstre sacré
- → Romanian: monstru sacru (calque)
See also
- vache sacrée