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coup de grâce

coup de grâce [ k də grss ] (plural coups de grâce [ k də grss ]) or coup de grace [ k də grss ] (plural coups de grace)


noun 
Definition:
 
1. death blow: a final blow or shot that kills a person or animal, especially one intended to end suffering

2. act that assures victory: the final action that assures victory or success, especially in a sporting event

[< French, "blow of mercy"]

Word Usage

When foreign words and expressions enter our language, how much adaptation does their pronunciation undergo? At first a borrowed word is generally recognized as foreign, and is pronounced much as it would be in its original language. As time goes on, pronunciation and even spelling are likely to be modified so as to be more typical of English, until the word's foreign origins are invisible except to etymologists (word historians). Discotheque, laissez-faire, mayonnaise, and uncle, for example, are at various points along this continuum of assimilation. Curiously, coup de grâce is often mistakenly pronounced k də gr, as people, perhaps having heard, for example, bourgeois, esprit de corps, and foie gras pronounced without their final consonants, imagine the expression should be pronounced in French. But the correct French pronunciation is more like the correct English pronunciation: k də gráss.

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