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What (who) is contretemps - definition
Contretemps
·noun An unexpected and untoward accident; something inopportune or embarrassing; a hitch.
contretemps
['k?ntr?t?contretemps]
¦ noun (plural same -t?contretempsz) a minor dispute or disagreement.
Origin
C17 (orig. 'motion out of time', denoting a thrust in fencing made at an inopportune moment): Fr., from contre- 'against' + temps 'time'.
contretemps
(contretemps)
A contretemps is a small disagreement that is rather embarrassing. (LITERARY)
He was briefly arrested in Rome after a contretemps with Italian police.
= dispute
N-COUNT: usu sing
Examples of use of contretemps
1. In a contretemps scarcely imaginable in William F.
2. After that unfortunate but irresistible contretemps Wayne was on a roll.
3. The song was the source of one of the minor contretemps of the Oscar preamble: was such a song suitable for such an august setting?
4. The new loaf is also, according to Hovis, designed to enable parents to sidestep contretemps with their offspring over said lack of crust ingestion.
5. Normally eight days separate the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, but the calendar contretemps prompted New Hampshire to cut that to five.