Word.ws English Dictionary

l'esprit de l'escalier

Syllables: l'es·prit de l'es·ca·lier/lɛˌspɹiː də lɛsˈkal.jeɪ/US/lɛˌspɹi də ˌlɛs.kəlˈjeɪ/

l'esprit de l'escalier noun: the phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed.

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
    • I flashed on Nancy again. The French had a word for everything: even for that thing you wished you'd said. L'esprit de l'escalier. The wit of the staircase. What I wished I'd said was this: […]2013, Simmone Howell, Girl Defective, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan, →ISBN; paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, September 2015, →ISBN, pages 100–101

Synonyms of l'esprit de l'escalier

Forms of l'esprit de l'escalier

alternative formesprit de l'escalier
alternative formesprit d'escalier
alternative forml'esprit d'escalier

Origin of l'esprit de l'escalier

Borrowed from French esprit de l’escalier (literally “mind of the staircase”), with the definite article le (“the”) at the beginning of the term. It refers to a description of the phenomenon in the essay Paradoxe sur le comédien (Paradox of the Actor, completed 1778 and published 1830) by the French encyclopedist and philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–1784). During a dinner at the home of the statesman Jacques Necker (1732–1804), Diderot was left speechless by a remark made to him. He wrote: « l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier » (“a sensitive man, such as myself, overwhelmed by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and can only think clearly again at the bottom of the stairs”), that is, when one is already on the way out of the house.

Words that rhyme with l'esprit de l'escalier

Questions about l'esprit de l'escalier

What does l'esprit de l'escalier mean?
L'esprit de l'escalier means the phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to someone after the opportunity to make it has passed.
What part of speech is l'esprit de l'escalier?
L'esprit de l'escalier is a noun.
How do you pronounce l'esprit de l'escalier?
L'esprit de l'escalier is pronounced /lɛˌspɹiː də lɛsˈkal.jeɪ/ (UK).

Words near l'esprit de l'escalier in the dictionary

  1. l'chayim
  2. l'ee
  3. l'ees
  4. l'envoi
  5. l'esprit d'escalier
  6. l'esprit de l'escalier
  7. L'Estaque
  8. l'havdl
  9. L'Heureux
  10. L'Hospitalet de Llobregat
  11. L'Hôpital's Rule

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-l'esprit de l'escalier.wav.

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