Make Your Point > Archived Issues > BEAU GESTE

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pronounce BEAU GESTE: Say it "bo ZHEST." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: Yes, okay, beaux are French, but we've taken plenty of them into English, including... 1. Beau i____, meaning "an excellent, beautiful, and perfect example of something." 2. Beau m____, meaning "the world of high society: the world of everything fancy and luxurious." 3. And beau geste, the term we're checking out today, meaning "a fine gesture: a show of great generosity." (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   definition: "Beau geste" is French for "fine gesture." We started using it in English around 1920. A beau geste is an act of kind generosity. It might be an empty gesture, all for show--or it might be a deeply meaningful one that really helps someone or makes them happy. Or somewhere in between. Regardless, it's usually a showy, public move. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Noun, the countable kind: "It was a beau geste;" "It was praised as a beau geste." Other forms:  The plural is "beaux gestes," pronounced the same as the singular: "bo ZHEST." how to use it: Fancy, French, and very rare, the term "beau geste" is likely to make you sound snobby or overly erudite. Still, it's lovely, and worth knowing. If you prefer, you can place this term in italics, beau geste, to emphasize its foreignness. But you don't have to. You might label some action as a beau geste, or talk about people praising or acclaiming some action as a beau geste. Although it's usually a person who makes a beau geste, you might get figurative and talk about an object or other creation doing so. Check out the example below about a skyscraper. It's worth noting that whether some gesture is or isn't a beau geste may be up for debate--and so are the intentions of the person making it, and the consequences of the gesture itself. With that in mind, I'll gently point out that, while I like to share terms like these with you and show you how they're used, I don't necessarily agree with every author I quote.  examples: "While opening his home was a beau geste on your friend's part, closing the door to his boss guest is easier said than done."    — Karla L. Miller, Washington Post, 31 July 2017 "One of his planned props for the evening: 'We leave one seat empty in the First Lady's State of the Union Guest Box for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice...' Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's penchant for the beau geste carries a high price for Americans, not to mention other, less fortunate citizens of the world."    — William McGurn, Wall Street Journal, 11 January 2016 "The Woolworth Building does not scrape the sky; it greets it, salutes it with a beau geste."    — E. V. Lucas, Roving East and Roving West, 1921 has this page helped you understand "beau geste"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "beau geste" without saying "grand gesture" or "magnanimous display." try it out: When the actress Amy Adams quietly gave her first-class plane seat to an American soldier who was flying coach, the media praised her for the beau geste. Because she deflected attention away from herself afterwards, I'm thinking that the move was pretty heartfelt, pretty genuine, rather than a way for her to earn praise or publicity. With this beau geste in mind as an example, talk about another one. Maybe you witnessed it in real life, or read about in the news. To what extent does this beau geste seem genuine to you? If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is "Clues in Cobbled Haikus." Check out the haiku, cobbled together from the work of a famous writer, and see if you can identify the term it's suggesting.  Try this one today: Cobbled from the work of Amy Lowell, the haiku below suggests which of the following terms: à la mode, rara avis, or terra incognita?    Green, it was her wings,    Over clouds, rainbow feathers    She led me. Goddess! To see the answer, scroll all the way down. review this word: 1. The opposite of a BEAU GESTE is A. a SLY WINK. B. a CRUEL SWIPE. C. a WITTY COMMENT. 2. Spectators witnessed the beau geste: the runner in the lead _____. A. making lewd gestures at the stragglers B. stopping to help his injured competitor C. leaping into a handspring at the finish line Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B Answer to the game question: The cobbled haiku suggests the term rara avis. a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.