tête-à-tête

/ˌtɛt.əˈtɛt/

tête-à-tête noun: a face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.

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Noun

tête-à-tête (plural tête-à-têtes)

A face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.
- From the tête-à-tête with Mr. Thomas Tough, ſhe goes to her deſk again, and begins to write "With what appetite ſhe may," in the forlorn hope of procuring from her bookſeller part of the money ſhe has been compelled to promiſe to the ſaid Thomas's peremptory demands, on behalf of Mr. Humphrey...1794, Charlotte Smith, chapter XI, in The Banished Man. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, pages 225–226
- Despite their explorations of what the Vatican termed "the family", it was uncertain whether the pope and the president concerned themselves with such issues during their behind-closed-doors tête à tête.2014 January 24, Lizzy Davies, “François Hollande affair allegations overshadow meeting with Pope Francis”, in The Guardian
Synonyms:

head-to-head
A bench or sofa that allows two people to talk face-to-face, especially one that is S-shaped.

Synonyms:

confidante, conversation bench, courting bench, kissing bench, love seat, vis-à-vis
A variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil.

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

In private, between two people; head-to-head.
- Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […]1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
- In particular his tête-à-tête luncheons were described, to which, as it now turned out, practically every journalist listening had at one time or another been invited.1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 10

Fernandinho and Fernando made Yaya Touré’s absence not feel important and Mourinho became so agitated it required a tête-à-tête with Mark Clattenburg on the touchline.2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian, London:
Putin would first hold a “tête-à-tête” discussion with interpreters, followed by negotiations by delegations and “a working breakfast.”2025 August 15, Ashley Ahn, “Trump-Putin Meeting: What Time, Where and How to Watch”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York...

Unadapted borrowing from French tête-à-tête (“head-to-head”).

What does tête-à-tête mean?: Tête-à-tête means a face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.
What is tête-à-tête in Hindi?: Tête-à-tête in Hindi is आमना-सामना (āmnā-sāmnā). See Tête-à-tête meaning in Hindi.
How do you use tête-à-tête in a sentence?: Fernandinho and Fernando made Yaya Touré’s absence not feel important and Mourinho became so agitated it required a tête-à-tête with Mark Clattenburg on the touchline.
What part of speech is tête-à-tête?: Tête-à-tête can be a noun or an adverb.
How do you pronounce tête-à-tête?: Tête-à-tête is pronounced /ˌtɛt.əˈtɛt/.
What is the plural of tête-à-tête?: The plural of tête-à-tête is tête-à-têtes.

Adapted from Wiktionary: tête-à-tête (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-tête-à-tête.wav.

Cite this entry: “tête-à-tête.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/t%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-t%C3%AAte. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.