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folie de grandeur

[ French faw-leeduhgrahn-dœr ]

noun

, Psychiatry.
, plural fo·lies de gran·deur [faw-leed, uh, g, r, ah, n, -, dœr].
  1. a delusion of grandeur; megalomania.


folie de grandeur

/ fɔli də ɡrɑ̃dœr /

noun

  1. delusions of grandeur
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of folie de grandeur1

From French
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Word History and Origins

Origin of folie de grandeur1

literally: madness of grandeur
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Example Sentences

“It was folie de grandeur,” she told me, as we left the Mille Collines.

“Every time Juncker spoke during the referendum, he helped the Leave campaign. The EU wants to make a choice about whether it wants Nato to continue. What would be the purpose of a European defence force? It is a folie de grandeur, like other things the EU has done which has caused it to face its current existential crisis. It is frankly crackers. But it is illustrative of the weird and narcissistic world in which he operates.”

To critics this was the folie de grandeur in the company’s hasty expansion abroad; it never seemed likely that chic Parisiennes would flock to the M&S lingerie department.

The European Union is dysfunctional, corrupt, and afflicted by a kind of corporate folie de grandeur.

Choosing that isolated, sparsely populated and energy-deprived area to present the work of one of the most power-dependent artists in the world is truly a folie de grandeur.

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folie à deuxFolies Bergère