supercherie
English
Alternative forms
- superchery
- superchiery
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French supercherie, itself borrowed from Italian soperchieria.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /suːˌpəːʃəˈɹiː/
Noun
supercherie (countable and uncountable, plural supercheries)
- (obsolete) Foul play; an attack made by deceit. [16th–17th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 27, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- it is a Superchiery, […] as being wel armed, to charge a man who hath but a piece of a sword, or being sound and strong, to set upon a man sore hurt.
-
- (now chiefly in French contexts) Deception, deceit; an instance of fraud. [from 17th c.]
- 1863, Henry Rogers, ‘Critique on M. Renan's Vie de Jésus’:
- We […] should certainly deny to any teacher of morals, in any age, who resorted to such ‘supercherie’ and charlatanism, any very high place among the instructors and benefactors of mankind.
- 2005, Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, 23 June:
- According to France's foreign minister, the British foreign secretary is guilty of perpetrating a supercherie.
- 1863, Henry Rogers, ‘Critique on M. Renan's Vie de Jésus’:
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian soperchieria, obsolete form of soverchieria (“abuse; bullying”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sy.pɛʁ.ʃə.ʁi/
Noun
supercherie f (plural supercheries)
- deception
Further reading
- “supercherie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.