Word.ws English Dictionary

pince-nez

/pænsˈneɪ/

pince-nez noun: templeless eyeglasses that clip to the bridge of the nose.

pince-nez: templeless eyeglasses that clip to the bridge of the nose
Image: MONNIN Jacques, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

pince-nez (plural pince-nez)

  1. Templeless eyeglasses that clip to the bridge of the nose.
    • Lord Belpher, leaning against the wall and trying to decide whether his right or left foot hurt him the more excruciatingly, became aware that a curate was standing before him, regarding him through a pair of gold-rimmed pince-nez with a disapproving and hostile expression.1919, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 15, in A Damsel in Distress
    • Shabet took a pince-nez from his breast pocket and settled it on the bridge of his nose.Furst, Alan 2000 Kingdom of Shadows, p170

Synonyms of pince-nez

Forms of pince-nez

pluralpince-nez

Origin of pince-nez

Borrowed from French pince-nez (literally “pinch-nose”).

Words formed from pince-nez

Questions about pince-nez

What does pince-nez mean?
Pince-nez means templeless eyeglasses that clip to the bridge of the nose.
What part of speech is pince-nez?
Pince-nez is a noun.
How do you pronounce pince-nez?
Pince-nez is pronounced /pænsˈneɪ/.
What is the plural of pince-nez?
The plural of pince-nez is pince-nez.

Words near pince-nez in the dictionary

  1. pinboys
  2. pinbush wattle
  3. pincainide
  4. pincase
  5. pincases
  6. pince-nez
  7. pince-nezed
  8. pincer
  9. pincer attack
  10. pincer attacks
  11. pincer gate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pince-nez (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pince-nez.wav.

Cite this entry: “pince-nez.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pince-nez. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.