tête-à-tête

Borrowed from French tête-à-tête (“head-to-head”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌtɛt.əˈtɛt/, /ˌteɪt.əˈteɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

tête-à-tête (plural tête-à-têtes)

1. A face-to-face meeting, or private conversation between two people, usually in an intimate setting; a head-to-head.

   Synonym: head-to-head

   • 1794, Charlotte Smith, chapter XI, in The Banished Man. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, pages 225–226:

     From the tête-à-tête with Mr. Thomas Tough, ſhe goes to her deſk again, and begins to write "With what appetite ſhe may," in the forlorn hope of procuring from her bookſeller part of the money ſhe has been compelled to promiſe to the ſaid Thomas's peremptory demands, on behalf of Mr. Humphrey Hotgooſe—[…]

   • 2014 January 24, Lizzy Davies, “François Hollande affair allegations overshadow meeting with Pope Francis”, in The Guardian‎:

     Despite their explorations of what the Vatican termed "the family", it was uncertain whether the pope and the president concerned themselves with such issues during their behind-closed-doors tête à tête.

   • 2015 January 31, Daniel Taylor, “David Silva seizes point for Manchester City as Chelsea are checked”, in The Guardian‎, London:

     Fernandinho and Fernando made Yaya Touré’s absence not feel important and Mourinho became so agitated it required a tête-à-tête with Mark Clattenburg on the touchline.

2. (furniture) A bench or sofa that allows two people to talk face-to-face, especially one that is S-shaped.

   Synonyms: confidante, conversation bench, courting bench, kissing bench, love seat, vis-à-vis

3. A variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil.

• tete-a-tete, tête à tête

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. In private, between two people; head-to-head.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     Swankey of the Body Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pig-sticking to her with great humour and eloquence […]

   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 10:

     In particular his tête-à-tête luncheons were described, to which, as it now turned out, practically every journalist listening had at one time or another been invited.

• loveseat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• IPA^(key): /tɛ.ta.tɛt/, /te.ta.tɛt/

• Audio (France)

  (file)

• Audio (Quebec)

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

tête-à-tête m (plural tête-à-tête or tête-à-têtes)

1. tête-à-tête, head-to-head

• “tête-à-tête”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from French tête-à-tête.

• IPA^(key): /tɛt.aˈtɛt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atɛt
• Syllabification: tête-‧à-‧tête

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. (literary) tête-à-tête (in private, between two people; head-to-head)

tête-à-tête n (indeclinable)

1. (literary) tête-à-tête (face-to-face meeting)

• tête-à-tête in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from French tête-à-tête.

tête-à-tête (not comparable)

1. tête-à-tête (in private, between two people; head-to-head)

tête-à-tête m (uncountable)

1. tête-à-tête (face-to-face meeting)

Borrowed from French tête-à-tête.

tête-à-tête n (plural tête-à-tête-uri)

1. tête-à-tête, head-to-head

• tete-a-tete
• tätatät

From French tête-à-tête.

• IPA^(key): /tɛtaˈtɛːt/
• Rhymes: -ɛːt

tête-à-tête c

1. an intimate meeting or conversation between two people; tête-à-tête
2. a variety of early flowering, fragrant daffodil

• tête-à-tête in Svensk ordbok (SO)