l'état, c'est moi
l'état, c'est moi phrase: used to signify one's exercise of power in a dictatiorial, repressive and/or charismatic manner.
Phrase
l'état, c'est moi
- Used to signify one's exercise of power in a dictatiorial, repressive and/or charismatic manner.
- 'Marcos and the First Lady wanted more than anything else [...] to be king and queen. They wished to shape the kingdom in their own image; [...] Marcos wanted to be able to say, 'L'état c'est moi.'1986 January 16, Ian Buruma, “Who Can Redeem Mother Filipinas?”, in The New York Review of Books
- But what’s even worse is the way Sean Spicer, Mr. Trump’s spokesman, framed the issue: Nordstrom’s business decision was a “direct attack” on the president’s policies. L’état, c’est moi.2017 February 10, Paul Krugman, “Opinion | When the Fire Comes”, in New York Times
Forms of l'état, c'est moi
| alternative form | l'etat, c'est moi |
|---|---|
| alternative form | l'état c'est moi |
Origin of l'état, c'est moi
Borrowed from French l'état, c'est moi (“I am the state”), which apocryphally attributed to Louis XIV per an anecdote representing the tyranny of France before the French Revolution.
Questions about l'état, c'est moi
- What does l'état, c'est moi mean?
- L'état, c'est moi means used to signify one's exercise of power in a dictatiorial, repressive and/or charismatic manner.
- What part of speech is l'état, c'est moi?
- L'état, c'est moi is a phrase.
Words near l'état, c'est moi in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: l'état, c'est moi (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: “l'état, c'est moi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/l%27%C3%A9tat%2C_c%27est_moi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.