Bel-esprit
a person of great wit or intellect.
historical examples
he was a statesman, a bel-esprit, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur.
the monarchs of the main, volume i (of 3) walter thornbury
and that father of hers, with his doubtful past and his cruelties, and the bel-esprit her mother, with her doubtful reputation.
resurrection leo tolstoy
what we commonly understand in french by “esprit,” “bel-esprit,” “trait d’esprit,” are—ingenious thoughts.
a philosophical dictionary, volume 10 (of 10) franois-marie arouet (aka voltaire)
one evening he took me with him to a literary renion, at which every bel-esprit of the capital was to be present.
continental monthly, vol. i, no. v, may, 1862 various
there was the blue-stocking lady, a mature belle and bel-esprit.
life without and life within margaret fuller
madame de pompadour joked my companion about her ‘bel-esprit’, but sometimes she reposed confidence in her.
the secret memoirs of louis xv./xvi, complete madame du hausset, an “unknown english girl” and the princess lamballe
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