affreux
affreux noun: a group of particularly brutal mercenaries who were active in Africa and Asia during the 1960s.
Noun
affreux pl (plural only)
- A group of particularly brutal mercenaries who were active in Africa and Asia during the 1960s.
- As one Belgian journalist wrote: The affreux ["frightful ones"] are outstanding in combat.1972, Jean-Claude Willame, Patrimonialism and Political Change in the Congo, →ISBN, page 74
- I could no longer find anything affected in that long smooth white face but an extreme kindness and a sort of obstinate candour; Vian was as Herv in his detestation of the affreux [the frightful ones] as in loving what he loved.1998, John Sturrock, The Word from Paris: Essays on Modern French Thinkers and Writers, →ISBN
Adjective
affreux (comparative more affreux, superlative most affreux)
- Dreadful; disturbing or frightening.
- And when I signified my intention of making a tour of the whole province, they most earnestly advised me to alter my plans, and occupy my time in visiting some other part of the kingdom; for they assured me, that all travellers who attempted Basse Bretagne, returned in disgust before they went more...1830, The Cambrian Quarterly Magazine and Celtic Repertory
- It was in rain that some common friends represented the tort affreux — the frightful mischief he would do the government of his own creation, if he published this work — all in vain: his honor, his conscience, and his patriotism, required that he should raise his voice in defence of the charter...1834, The London Quarterly Review - Issues 103-106, page 141
Examples of affreux in a sentence
- These were mostly, but not exclusively, members of the Baluba tribe and had fled the persecution of Munongo's mercenary affreux and their black rank-and-file.2003, Máire O'Brien, The same age as the state, page 249:
- He had once been one of the dreaded affreux, the “frightful ones,” the white freelance soldiers who helped keep dictators in power throughout Africa and Asia.2014, Joseph Finder, The Zero Hour, →ISBN:
- France's return to Comoros was, above all, conspicuous through the actions of the mercenary leader Bob Denard and his team of affreux ('dreadful').2015, Tor Sellström, Africa in the Indian Ocean: Islands in Ebb and Flow, →ISBN, page 169:
- Orpheus calls the sound 'affreux'; the examiners may have agreed.2001, Julian Rushton, The Music of Berlioz, →ISBN, page 22:
Forms of affreux
| comparative | more affreux |
|---|---|
| superlative | most affreux |
Origin of affreux
Borrowed from French affreux.
Questions about affreux
- What does affreux mean?
- Affreux means a group of particularly brutal mercenaries who were active in Africa and Asia during the 1960s.
- How do you use affreux in a sentence?
- These were mostly, but not exclusively, members of the Baluba tribe and had fled the persecution of Munongo's mercenary affreux and their black rank-and-file.
- What part of speech is affreux?
- Affreux can be a noun or an adjective.
Words near affreux in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: affreux (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “affreux.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/affreux. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.