degage
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Showing a lack of emotional involvement or concern; detached, aloof: Describes a person, attitude, or pose that is emotionally uninvolved, indifferent, or coolly distant.
- Free and relaxed in manner; casual, unconstrained: Describes a person's demeanor or behavior that is easy, natural, and without nervousness or formality.
Usage Examples
Adjective (Emotionally detached):
- His degage attitude during the crisis surprised everyone.
- She listened with a degage air, as if the outcome didn't concern her.
Adjective (Relaxed in manner):
- After a few drinks, he became quite degage and conversational.
- The host's degage style put the guests at ease.
Advanced Usage
- Used in literary or formal contexts: The word "degage" is relatively rare and is often used in literary, artistic, or formal descriptive writing to convey a specific nuance of detachment or cultivated ease.
- The portrait captured the subject's degage elegance, a blend of indifference and grace.
Variants and Related Words
- Detached (adj): Aloof, disinterested, emotionally separate.
- Nonchalant (adj): Casually unconcerned or indifferent.
- Uninvolved (adj): Not participating or emotionally connected.
- Blasé (adj): Unimpressed or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often.
Synonyms
- Aloof
- Indifferent
- Unconcerned
- Casual
- Unruffled
Antonyms
- Engaged
- Involved
- Concerned
- Anxious
- Formal
Notes on Usage
- Origin: "Degage" is borrowed from French (dégagé), meaning "detached" or "free." Its use in English often retains a slightly sophisticated or continental flavor.
- Context: It is typically used as a predicate adjective (e.g., "He seemed degage") or attributively before a noun (e.g., "a degage manner"). It is not commonly used in everyday conversation.
Adjective
- showing lack of emotional involvement
- adopted a degage pose on the arm of the easy chair- J.S.Perelman
- she may be detached or even unfeeling but at least she's not hypocritically effusive
- an uninvolved bystander
- free and relaxed in manner
- rather degage after the nervousness he had shown at dinner- Edmund Wilson