roué

American  

[roo-ey, roo-ey] / ruˈeɪ, ˈru eɪ /

noun

1. a dissolute and licentious man; rake.

   Synonyms:

   rakehell, bounder, cad, lecher, libertine, profligate

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roué British  

/ ˈruːeɪ /

noun

1. a debauched or lecherous man; rake

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Etymology

Origin of roué

1790–1800; < French, noun use of past participle of rouer to break on the wheel (derivative of roue wheel ≪ Latin rota ); name first applied to the profligate companions of the Duc d'Orléans (c1720)

Example Sentences

Interrupting his trial, the jazzy “Come Up to My Office” imagines Frank wholly out of character as a suave roué.

From Washington Post • Mar. 16, 2023

Dire moves to curtail Pyros’s activity may be unnecessary, some specialists say, because there are signs the shaggy roué has lost a step.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2016

A libertine history and the look of a roué gone to seed would not in themselves preclude the support of evangelical Christians, who are, after all, keen on repentance.

From Economist • Mar. 3, 2016

Yet in his 20s he took time out from his apprentice novel-writing to complete a full biography of the 17th-century roué and poet, the Earl of Rochester.

From The Guardian • Jun. 1, 2012

Not that he was like the Frenchman of the present day—an animal, either rude or reserved; but your ideal of the Marquis of the old régime—the roué of the Regency.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. IV, No. 19, Dec 1851 by Various