Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SOIGNE
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pronounce
SOIGNE:
Say it "swan YAY."
To hear it, click here.
connect this word to others:
When you're well-groomed and well-dressed, you're looking spiffy, n___y, all dolled up, or soigne.
Can you recall that word with the blanks?
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
definition:
We took the word "soigne" from French, where it literally means "taken care of."
Soigne things and people are dressed, created, or decorated with lots of care and lots of attention to elegant detail.
grammatical bits:
Part of speech:
Adjective: "Everything at the party was perfectly soigne."
Other forms:
None are in common use.
If you prefer, you can preserve the Frenchness of this word by writing it with an accent mark over the "e:" "soigné."
It's worth mentioning that in French, there's a feminine form of the same word: "soignee," pronounced the same way but just spelled with that extra "e." You might write "soignee" if you're describing a girl or a woman. Or, you might not bother--English just isn't that fancy.
how to use it:
The word "soigne" is rare, fancy, formal, and a little snooty.
So if that's the mood you're going for, then talk about soigne people, manners, rooms, restaurants, decor, food, drinks, clothing, etc.
examples:
"That breeze wafting through the Lansburgh Theatre is the air of soigne craftsmanship, borne on the currents of director Maria Aitken's suavely attired revival of Noel Coward's evergreen comedy, 'Private Lives.'"
— Peter Marks, Washington Post, 12 June 2014
"In three weeks he had had three different servants, but none of them would stay. The place was too lonely, they said, and with three puppies the work was too hard. The washing, particularly was a horrid problem. Inexperienced as a parent, Gissing was probably too proud: he wanted the children always to look clean and soigne."
— Christopher Morley, Where the Blue Begins, 1922
has this page helped you understand "soigne"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "soigne" without saying "chic and polished" or "elegantly styled."
try it out:
When you describe things as soigne, they're always sophisticated.
So while it's true that, say, Cracker Barrel's decor has been carefully created, you'd never call it soigne. Instead, you'd call it rustic:
But you could definitely call a restaurant like Fleming's soigne:
Their decor is just as carefully chosen, just as carefully arranged as Cracker Barrel's, but the difference is in the sophistication.
With these examples in mind, talk about another place you'd definitely describe as soigne. It might be another restaurant, or a gallery, a museum, a night club, etc. Maybe even an entire neighborhood or city.
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 "Polygon of Predestination!"
With a high five to TheWordFinder.com for its puzzle generator, I'm Pat-Sajacking that spin-the-wheel game from TV. Apply your alliterative acumen to solve the puzzle. The category all month long is: "Beastly Blunders and Criminal Capers."
From the previous issue:
The name for this particular criminal caper hasn't made it into dictionaries yet. Dr. Gary C. Smith, a meat scientist, defined "food fraud" in 2016 as "the act of purposely altering, misrepresenting, mislabeling, substituting or tampering with any food product at any point along the farm-to-table food supply-chain." Did you catch that Dr. Smith is a meat scientist? Until this moment, I never gave a single thought to meat science. Don't tell anyone; they'd never let me back into Texas.
Try this one today:
Not sure yet? Need to see a bit more? Click here.
review this word:
A. SLOVENLY (sloppy, untidy).
B. SERVICEABLE (good, but not great).
C. SERENDIPITOUS (surprisingly lucky).
2. The outfit is soigne, perhaps _____.
A. a bit much for this trip to Wal-Mart
B. fashionable ten years ago, but cringey today
C. good for blending in, but not for standing out
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:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
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.
We took the word "soigne" from French, where it literally means "taken care of."
Part of speech:
The word "soigne" is rare, fancy, formal, and a little snooty.
"That breeze wafting through the Lansburgh Theatre is the air of soigne craftsmanship, borne on the currents of director Maria Aitken's suavely attired revival of Noel Coward's evergreen comedy, 'Private Lives.'"
Explain the meaning of "soigne" without saying "chic and polished" or "elegantly styled."
When you describe things as soigne, they're always sophisticated.
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.
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