# enfant terrible

Pronunciation: US say "ahn-fahn te-REE-bluh" /ˌɑnfɑn tɛˈɹiblə/; UK say "on-fon te-REE-bluh" /ˌɒ̃fɒ̃ tɛˈɹiːblə/

## Noun

1. An unconventional, badly behaved person whose conduct embarrasses or shocks others.
   - Simple: A person who acts in wild, unusual ways and shocks or embarrasses other people.
   - _At every family dinner Uncle Ray played the enfant terrible, telling crude jokes in front of the pastor._
   - _Long the enfant terrible of the city council, she once arrived at a budget hearing in a clown wig._
2. A strikingly unorthodox, innovative or avant-garde figure who has also been unusually successful.
   - Simple: A very successful person who does things in a new, bold and surprising way.
   - _Once the enfant terrible of American architecture, she now designs museums on three continents._
   - _Hailed as the enfant terrible of the city's dining scene, the young chef won a national award for his strange tasting menus._

## Noun

3. A child who is wild and hard to control. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A wild child who is very hard to control.
   - _Their youngest was an enfant terrible at four, climbing the bookshelves and biting anyone who said no._
   - _The governess gave notice after a single week with the twins, a pair of enfants terribles who flooded the nursery and hid her spectacles._

## Origin

An unadapted borrowing from French enfant terrible (literally "terrible child").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/enfant-terrible (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).