donnée

American  

[do-ney] / dɒˈneɪ /

noun

1. a set of artistic or literary premises or assumptions.

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donnée British  

/ dɔne /

noun

1. a subject or theme

2. a basic assumption or fact

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Etymology

Origin of donnée

1875–80; < French: literally, given, noun use of feminine past participle of donner to give < Latin dōnāre; see donate

Example Sentences

And with that donnée, as Henry James would have called it, the excitement begins.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 6, 2016

We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, what the French call his donnée; our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 19, 2014

I think it’s the most daring donnée a novel has ever taken on, which is to make a novel that’s exciting about boredom.

From New York Times • Apr. 8, 2011

In Greece the donnée was a nature myth, and a ritual in which it was enacted. 

From The Homeric Hymns A New Prose Translation; and Essays, Literary and Mythological by Lang, Andrew

Thus, in Tamlane, the whole donnée is popular. 

From A Collection of Ballads by Lang, Andrew