dossier

noun

dos·​sier ˈdȯs-ˌyā How to pronounce dossier (audio)
ˈdäs-;
ˈdȯ-sē-ˌā,
ˈdä-
: a file containing detailed records on a particular person or subject
the patient's medical dossier
Police began compiling a dossier on him.

Did you know?

Gather together various documents relating to the affairs of a certain individual, sort them into separate folders, label the spine of each folder, and arrange the folders in a box. Dossier, the French word for such a compendium of spine-labeled folders, was picked up by English speakers in the 19th century. It comes from dos, the French word for "back." The verb endorse (which originally meant "to write on the back of") and the rare adjective addorsed ("set or turned back to back," a term primarily used in heraldry) are also derived, via the Anglo-French endosser and French adosser respectively, from dos. The French dos has its origins in the Latin dorsum, a word which also gave English the adjective dorsal ("situated on the back"), as in "the dorsal fin of a whale."

Examples of dossier in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The justices reiterated the government's concerns that such information may allow China to track the locations of federal employees, craft dossiers of information for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage. Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 17 Jan. 2025 In fact, both sides of the Israel divide say they are being boycotted and blacklisted as the conflict drags on in its second year and claim that secret dossiers are being kept by opposing camps to document who is deemed unhireable. Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 5 Dec. 2024 Watson said outside court that their dossier of information would be passed to authorities. Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 24 Jan. 2025 Characters from scratch are what Leigh’s famed rehearsal process is known for, but how extensive is the dossier? Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for dossier 

Word History

Etymology

French, bundle of documents labeled on the back, dossier, from dos back, from Latin dorsum — see dorsal entry 2

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dossier was in 1835

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Dictionary Entries Near dossier

Cite this Entry

“Dossier.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dossier. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

dossier

noun
dos·​sier ˈdȯs-ˌyā How to pronounce dossier (audio)
ˈdȯs-ē-ˌā,
ˈdäs-
: a file of papers containing a detailed report

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