rocambolesque
English
Etymology
Borrowed from French rocambolesque, in reference to Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's character Rocambole.
Adjective
rocambolesque (comparative more rocambolesque, superlative most rocambolesque)
- Fantastic, incredible, fabulous.
- a rocambolesque story
- 2001, Chapter 14: Structure, Contingency, and Choice, Joan Wallach Scott, Debra Keates (editors), Schools of Thought: Twenty-five Years of Interpretive Social Science, Princeton University Press, page 267,
- Behind much of this were particular concrete New Left movements, some serious, some more rocambolesque.
- 2004, Christopher Wood, Sincere Male Seeks Love and Someone to Wash His Underpants, Twenty First Century Publishers, page 18,
- Though not exactly seeking carpet slippers and the reassuring click of knitting needles he had envisaged a future rather less rocambolesque than the plot of the average Tarantino movie.
- 2017, Matteo Salvadore, The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations, 1402—1555, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 121,
- The latter in particular was an unlikely candidate for what would turn out to be the most rocambolesque experiences in the entire history of the encounter.
Translations
fantastic
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French
Etymology
From Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's character Rocambole + -esque.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʁɔ.kɑ̃.bɔ.lɛsk/
Audio (file)
Adjective
rocambolesque (plural rocambolesques)
- fantastic, unusual, incredible, wacky
- Synonyms: incroyable, inimaginable, inouï, invraisemblable
Descendants
- → English: rocambolesque
- → Italian: rocambolesco
- → Spanish: rocambolesco
Further reading
- “rocambolesque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.