sangfroid

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See also: sang-froid and sang froid

English

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WOTD – 22 May 2012

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sang-froid, from sang (“blood”) + froid (“cold”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sangfroid (usually uncountable, plural sangfroids)

  1. Composure, self-possession or imperturbability especially when in a dangerous situation.
    Synonyms: aplomb, poise, unflappability
    He handled the stressful situation with great sangfroid.
    • 1920 November 9, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 1, in Women in Love, New York, N.Y.: Privately printed [by Thomas Seltzer] for subscribers only, →OCLC:
      The provincial people, intimidated by Gudrun’s perfect sang-froid and exclusive bareness of manner, said of her: “She is a smart woman."
    • 1961, Richard Bellman, Adaptive Control Processes: A Guided Tour, Princeton University Press, page 197:
      We can handle functions of a few variables with some aplomb and view sets of quantities totalling 106 or 107 with sangfroid.
    • 2011 July 28, Terry Castle, “Do I like it?”, in London Review of Books‎[1], volume 33, number 15, →ISSN:
      Indeed, some of the little naked human figures seemed to display a near comical sangfroid, even as they were pecked by giant birds, hatched out of eggs, had huge flowers inserted in their bottoms, or, in the case of one of my favourites, sported a monstrous blueberry instead of a head.
    • 2013 January, Brian Hayes, “Father of Fractals”, in American Scientist‎[2], volume 101, number 1, page 62:
      Toward the end of the war, Benoit was sent off on his own with forged papers; he wound up working as a horse groom at a chalet in the Loire valley. Mandelbrot describes this harrowing youth with great sangfroid.
    • 2020 August 22, Robert McCrum, “For ever and a day: why we turn to Shakespeare at times of crisis”, in The Observer‎[3]:
      If there’s one unspoken club rule, it’s that when we meet, we only discuss the play in question: no gossip; no politics; no families; and no football. As an association, we demonstrate near-Olympic sang-froid.
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Translations

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