mésalliance

[ mey-zuh-lahy-uhns, mey-zal-ee-uhns; French mey-zal-yahns ]

noun

, plural mé·sal·li·anc·es [mey-z, uh, -, lahy, -, uh, n-siz, mey-, zal, -ee-, uh, n-siz, mey-z, a, l-, yahns].

1. a marriage with someone who is considered socially inferior; misalliance.

mésalliance

/ mezaljɑ̃s; mɛˈzælɪəns /

noun

1. marriage with a person of lower social status

Word History and Origins

Origin of mésalliance¹

From French, dating back to 1775–85; mis- ¹, alliance

Word History and Origins

Origin of mésalliance¹

C18: from French: misalliance

Example Sentences

One kind of clue in analysis is a mésalliance — a mismatch.

From New York Times

The mésalliance here, I’m suspecting, is the mismatch between the intensity of feeling and the referenced event that provoked the feeling.

From New York Times

In the second, having argued that modern young women possessed the independence of mind to seek out entertainments on their own, she wrote, “Modern girls are conscious of the importance of their own identity, and they marry whom they choose, satisfied to satisfy themselves. They are not so keenly aware, as were their parents, of the vast difference between a brilliant match and a mésalliance.”

From The New Yorker

Seems a puzzling mésalliance on the part of Mssrs.

From Forbes

Mr. Golan, who died last month at the age of 85, and Mr. Globus, cousins who founded the Cannon Group, a B-film powerhouse of the 1980s, released cinematic sex romps like “Bolero” with Bo Derek, bloody vigilante sequels with Charles Bronson, and the occasional mésalliance with respected filmmakers like John Cassavetes and Jean-Luc Godard.

From New York Times