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eclat

 - 3 dictionary results

é⋅clat

[ey-klah; Fr. ey-kla]
–noun
1. brilliance of success, reputation, etc.: the éclat of a great achievement.
2. showy or elaborate display: a performance of great éclat.
3. acclamation; acclaim.

Origin:
1665–75; < F: splinter, fragment, burst, flash, brilliance, OF esclat, n. deriv. of esclater to burst, break violently, prob. < Old Low Franconian *slaitan to split, break (cf. OHG sleizan to tear), a causative of Gmc *slitan; see slit
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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é·clat   (ā-klä', ā'klä')   
n.  
  1. Great brilliance, as of performance or achievement.

  2. Conspicuous success.

  3. Great acclamation or applause.

  4. Archaic Notoriety; scandal.


[French, brilliance, from Old French esclat, splinter, from esclater, to burst out, splinter, probably of Germanic origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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eclat 
1674, "showy brilliance," from Fr. éclat "splinter, fragment" (12c.), also "flash of brilliance," from eclater "burst out, splinter," from O.Fr. esclater, of uncertain origin, perhaps from a W.Gmc. word related to slit or to O.H.G. sleizen "tear to pieces; to split, cleave." Extended sense of "conspicuous success" is first recorded in Eng. in 1741.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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