bassesse

French

Etymology

From bas +‎ -esse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.sɛs/ ~ /bɑ.sɛs/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ɛs

• Audio:

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Noun

bassesse f (plural bassesses)

1. baseness, lowness, contemptibility
   • 1954, Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse:

     Je croyais que ma vie pourrait se calculer sur cette phrase, s’en inspirer, en jaillir comme une perverse image d’Épinal : j’oubliais les temps morts, la discontinuité et les bons sentiments quotidiens. Idéalement, j’envisageais une vie de bassesses et de turpitudes.

     I believed that my life could be calculated on this sentence, inspired by it, springing from it like a perverse image of Epinal: I forgot the dead times, the discontinuity and the daily good feelings. Ideally, I envisaged a life of baseness and turpitudes.

2. something trivial
3. (derogatory) quality of being of low, unnoble birth

Further reading

• “bassesse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.