Wiktionary

aplomb

See also: Aplomb

English

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /əˈplʌm/, /əˈplɒm/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌm, -ɒm

Noun

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aplomb (usually uncountable, plural aplombs)

  1. Self-confidence; poise; composure.
    His nonchalance and aplomb during hard times have always been his best character trait.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      “Oh, Wooster,” he said, “I was talking to my mother a night or two ago.” “Oh, yes?” I said, with a slight wave of the hand intended to indicate that if he liked to talk to his mother anywhere, all over the house, he had my approval. “She tells me you are interested in mice.” I didn't like the trend the conversation was taking, but I preserved my aplomb. “Why, yes, fairly interested.” “She says she found you trying to catch one in my bedroom!”
    • 1961, Richard Bellman, Adaptive Control Processes: A Guided Tour, Princeton University Press, page 197:
      We can handle functions of a few variables with some aplomb and view sets of quantities totalling IO6 or IO7 with sangfroid.
    • 2000, Elizabeth Berg, Range of Motion:
      They have a seven-year-old son named Timothy, never called Timmy or Tim; a little scrawny guy who wears thick glasses already, and who tucks his striped T-shirts into his pants with the aplomb of a silver-templed CEO.
    • 2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson put his below-par performance against Argentina behind him with a fine first-half showing, slotting four kicks from six and controlling his back-line with aplomb, while England's three-quarters were brimming with life and clinical with their execution.
    • 2022 December 14, Robin Leleux, “A royal occasion as heritage projects honoured: Sudbury Hill”, in RAIL, number 972, page 57:
      Installing lift shafts in station buildings which were not originally designed to accommodate them can be a fraught exercise, but a necessary one if the legitimate aspiration of the travelling public for step-free access is to be achieved. At Sudbury Hill, on London Underground's Piccadilly Line extension out to the north-western suburbs, Transport for London has achieved this with aplomb.
    • 2023 July 5, Murtada Elfadl, “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One review: Tom Cruise runs, jumps, and delivers again”, in AV Club‎[2]:
      But Cruise remains the main attraction. He carries the film with aplomb and invests the action with enough familiarity from the previous films that fans will be more than happy.
  2. (ballet) The apparent elegance and precision exhibited by a confident, accomplished dancer.
  3. The perpendicular; perpendicularity.

Translations

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Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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From fil à plomb (“plumb line”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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aplomb m (plural aplombs)

  1. vertical line, as measured with a plumb line
    Bien prendre l’aplomb. ― To take well the plumb-line.
  2. (by extension) stability, equilibrium, uprightness, plumb
    Ce mur tient bien son aplomb, a perdu son aplomb.
    This wall holds its plumb / has lost its plumb.
  3. (figurative) aplomb, self-confidence

Descendants

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Further reading

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Italian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb.

Noun

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aplomb m (invariable)

  1. aplomb, self-confidence, poise

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb.

Noun

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aplomb m (usually uncountable, plural aplombs)

  1. aplomb; self-confidence
    Synonyms: autoconfiança, segurança
  2. (ballet) aplomb (elegance and precision exhibited by a dancer)

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French aplomb.

Noun

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aplomb n (uncountable)

  1. aplomb

Declension

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singular only indefinite definite
nominative-accusative aplomb aplombul
genitive-dative aplomb aplombului
vocative aplombule

Swedish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French aplomb.

Noun

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aplomb c

  1. (rare) aplomb

Declension

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Declension of aplomb
nominative genitive
singular indefinite aplomb aplombs
definite aplomben aplombens
plural indefinite — —
definite — —

References

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