Word.ws English Dictionary

esprit d'escalier

esprit d'escalier is the alternative form of l'esprit de l'escalier.

Meaning of l'esprit de l'escalier

Noun

l'esprit de l'escalier (uncountable)

  1. The phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed.
    • Some last thoughts in l'esprit de l'escalier—afterthoughts descending the stairwell as one remembers things unsaid.2011, Richard Kearney, “Epilogue”, in Anatheism: Returning to God after God (Insurrections), New York, N.Y.; Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Postlude), page 182

Questions about esprit d'escalier

What is esprit d'escalier the alternative form of?
Esprit d'escalier is the alternative form of l'esprit de l'escalier.

Words near esprit d'escalier in the dictionary

  1. espressotinis
  2. espringal
  3. espringals
  4. esprise
  5. esprit
  6. esprit d'escalier
  7. esprit de corps
  8. esprit de l'escalier
  9. esprit fort
  10. ESPs
  11. espundia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: esprit d'escalier (page history and authors); l'esprit de l'escalier (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.

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Cite this entry: “esprit d'escalier.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/esprit_d%27escalier. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.