manqué · adj — unfulfilled due to the vagary of circumstance, some inherent flaw or a constitutional lack. It carries an Arena rating of 1680, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, manqué ranks #164 of 17,207 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #738 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #1,148 of 17,162 for Most Elegant Words, #5,018 of 17,172 for Scariest Words.
manqué is pronounced /ˈmɒŋkeɪ/.
Why “manqué” is a great word
Having failed to become what one might have been due to circumstance, inherent flaw, or lack; unfulfilled. From the French manqué, past participle of manquer ('to lack, to be lacking, to miss'), itself from the Italian mancare ('to lack, to be missing'), of Germanic origin; first recorded in English use in the 1770s. Unlike 'failed' (which names a general lack of success) or 'aspiring' (which suggests active striving toward a goal), manqué carries the specific ache of an unfulfilled potential. It is the novelist who published nothing, the diplomat relegated to a provincial desk, and the empty easel in the sunlit studio—the lingering scent of a possibility that passed into the air and was gone. It speaks not of tragedy, but of the quiet, settled dust on a path not taken.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
Existing in English from the eighteenth century. Borrowed from French manqué, past participle form of manquer (“to lack, to be lacking in”).
adj
- Unfulfilled due to the vagary of circumstance, some inherent flaw or a constitutional lack.e.g.““[…] and all things considered, I don't much regret that this affair with Miss Amory is manquée, though I wished for it once—in fact, all things considered, I am very glad of it.”” — 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXXVII, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 356:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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