Les Misérables

[ French ley mee-zey-ra-bluh ]

noun
  1. a novel (1862) by Victor Hugo.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Les Misérables in a sentence

  • The author of Les Miserables often lulls these little ones to sleep with improvised tales of wonderful fascination.

  • Les Miserables she read till she reached the dreadful scene where a vicious cad hurls snowballs at the helpless Fantine.

  • Black pondered over this; but Carney's allusion to the policeman in "Les Miserables" had had an effect.

    Bulldog Carney | W. A. Fraser
  • Victor Hugo has, in his wonderful book, "Les Miserables," daguerreotyped the thoughts and the feelings of a prisoner.

  • Read "Les Miserables" of our great Hugo before you answer, my friend.'

    Madame Midas | Fergus Hume

Cultural definitions for Les Misérables

Les Misérables

(1862) A novel by Victor Hugo. The central character, Jean Valjean, is sentenced to prison for stealing a single loaf of bread. Later, seeking respectability, Valjean is hounded by his archenemy, Inspector Javert.

Notes for Les Misérables

The broad canvas of Hugo's novel has been adapted for numerous films and a long-running Broadway (see also Broadway) musical (usually known as Les Miz).

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.