manque means unable to fully realise one's ambitions; would-be. It carries an Arena rating of 1400, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, manque ranks #920 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #4,866 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #5,788 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #5,970 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
manque is pronounced /mɒŋˈkeɪ/.
Why “manque” is a great word
Having failed to become what one might have been; would-be. From French manqué, past participle of manquer ("to lack, miss, fail"), from Italian mancare, from manco ("lacking, defective"), first recorded in English 1770–80. Unlike "failed" (which indicates a simple lack of success) or "aspiring" (which suggests active ambition and hope), manqué describes a state of arrested possibility. It is the actor tending bar who knows every line of Hamlet, the composer who never finished the symphony, the politician who withdrew before the first vote was cast—each a poignant archaeology of abandoned selves, defined by the ghost of what might have been.
Etymology
From French manqué.
adj
- unable to fully realise one's ambitions; would-bee.g.“an artist manque”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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