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Word of the Week: Milieu

05.06.2007

milieu [mil-yoo, meel-; Fr. mee-ly]

–noun
1. surroundings, esp. of a social or cultural nature. —Synonyms background, sphere, setting.

–synonyms
background, sphere, setting

[Origin: 1795–1805; < F, equiv. to mi (< L medius middle; see MEDIUM) + lieu LIEU ]

In A Sentence
"It has been reported recently that Churchill said that some of the problems of the Jews were of their own making -- this said at the time when the Jews were being exterminated in the death camps. Did this sort of view spring from his upper-class milieu, where these feelings about the Jews were so prevalent at that time, or did Churchill's feelings go much deeper -- have some personal experience, perhaps?"

- Transcribed Viewer Question, "'New Historian' Shifts from Old View of Israel", Washington Post.com, March 12, 2007

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, ? Random House, Inc. 2006.

Shawn Denny, Information Services Librarian