Voltaire

[ vohl-tair, vol-; French vawl-ter ]

noun

1. François Marie Arouet, 1694–1778, French philosopher, historian, satirist, dramatist, and essayist.

Voltaire

/ vəʊl-; vɔltɛr; vɒlˈtɛə /

noun

1. Voltaire16941778MFrenchWRITING: writer pseudonym of François Marie Arouet. 1694–1778, French writer, whose outspoken belief in religious, political, and social liberty made him the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. His major works include Lettres philosophiques (1734) and the satire Candide (1759). He also wrote plays, such as Zaïre (1732), poems, and scientific studies. He suffered several periods of banishment for his radical views

Voltaire

1. The nom de plume of François Arouet, an eighteenth-century French philosopher and author and a major figure of the Enlightenment . Voltaire was known as a wit and freethinker. The most famous of his works is Candide.

Derived Forms

• Volˈtairean, adjectivenoun

Other Words From

• Vol·taire·an Vol·tairi·an adjective noun

Example Sentences

"William Wells Brown’s 'Clotel' was the first novel written by an African American, and, in my view, it presents the philosophy of Black liberalism in the form of a story, in a manner akin to Voltaire’s 'Candide.'"

From Salon

I didn’t mention Voltaire, but “Candide” was on my mind when I asked Flores how he deals with political disappointment.

From Los Angeles Times

An audible sigh of frustration drifted across the packed seats of courtroom “Voltaire” in Avignon’s Palace of Justice, as the lead judge, dressed in a scarlet robe, announced an unexpected but unavoidable delay to a trial that has gripped France.

From BBC

On the library shelves, Voltaire and George Eliot are joined by Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner, the Ventura lawyer and author who created Perry Mason.

From Los Angeles Times

The resulting images — a cloud shaped like “an angry sandwich,” a bird making a home inside “a nice friendly bear” — would not have been out of place at the Cabaret Voltaire.

From Los Angeles Times