Word.ws English Dictionary

upon the tapis

upon the tapis prepositional phrase: under discussion or consideration.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Under discussion or consideration.
    • […] when any thing was supposed to be upon the tapis worth knowing or listening to, it was the rule to leave the door, not absolutely shut, but somewhat ajar […]1759–1767, [Laurence Sterne], The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume (please specify |volume=I to IX), London: […] T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […]
    • Of this, however, I was not aware; although, in the present instance, I saw clearly that something of a whimsical nature was upon the tapis with my friend, and that Hermann was its especial object.1837, Edgar Allan Poe, Mystification
    Synonyms:
    on the tapis

Synonyms of upon the tapis

Origin of upon the tapis

Compare French mettre sur le tapis.

Questions about upon the tapis

What does upon the tapis mean?
Upon the tapis means under discussion or consideration.
What part of speech is upon the tapis?
Upon the tapis is a prepositional phrase.

Words near upon the tapis in the dictionary

  1. upon the matter
  2. upon the pad
  3. upon the point of
  4. upon the square
  5. upon the strength of
  6. upon the tapis
  7. upon the whole
  8. upon the whole matter
  9. upon the wing
  10. upon't
  11. uposatha

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: upon the tapis (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: “upon the tapis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/upon_the_tapis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.