soiree

noun

soi·​ree swä-ˈrā 

variants or soirée

: a party or reception held in the evening

Did you know?

Soiree: A Fancy Evening Party

In English, soiree means “a fancy evening affair.” The word comes directly from French and was formed from the word soir, meaning “evening” or “night.” The French make a subtle distinction between soir, which refers explicitly to the time of day following sunset, and soirée, which refers to some duration of time, usually translated as “evening.” English speakers don’t use different words, but we understand the difference between “I’ll see you tomorrow evening” and “We spent the evening playing cards”—one refers to a time of day and one refers to the passage of time. From the idea of a period of time evolved the second meaning of soirée: a party that takes place during the evening. As is typical for words that have been borrowed from modern French, soiree in English signifies the fancy version of a simple “party”: an evening event that is formal or refined in some way.

A third sense of soirée in French, “an evening performance,” has a parallel with matinée, from matin “morning. ” Matinée literally means “morning performance” in French but has come to mean “daytime or afternoon performance” in English. The “evening performance” meaning of soirée has not been adopted by English. Our Unabridged of 1934, however, did record both a verb soiree (meaning, presumably, “to hold or attend an evening party”) and the variant swarry, “so spelled in mimicry of mispronunciation.”

Soiree can be spelled in English using the acute accent as soirée, but is usually spelled without it.

Examples of soiree in a Sentence

After the interview she took me to a coffee-and-cake soiree at a wealthy student's house. —Thomas Keneally, The Tyrant's Novel, 2004

Ostensible grownups can be reduced to screaming toddlers over who gets the credit for bringing in a major donor's gift—and thus gets the inside track for a better seat at the next big soirée. Bring into this piranha tank an attractive, ambitious, wealthy woman who made an almost instant connection with the President and his wife, and the knives start flashing. —Viveca Novak, Time, 14 June 1999

Mariah Carey's voyage into pop stardom begins on a fateful Friday evening in 1988 when she and dance songbird Brenda K. Starr—for whom Carey was a background singer—attend a music industry soiree. —Larry Flick, CD Review, December 1994

a fashionable soiree at a fancy hotel

Recent Examples on the Web

Modern Surrealism 2025 will channel a modern take on a 1920s art movement through decorative tablescapes and dream-like soirees. —Isabella Milano, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Dec. 2024

Revered as one of the top luxury Caribbean resorts with private pools, Half Moon ups the ante on how personal outdoor areas can be utilized by offering the ability to host family-style soirees. —Gina Kramer, USA TODAY, 16 Nov. 2024

Milwaukee Art Museum's MAM After Dark series, which transforms the museum into a swinging creative soiree one Friday a month, will return in January. —Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 12 Nov. 2024

More:Tension over Swan Ball grew in recent years: Inside the soiree's standoff with Cheekwood SB Initiative sued Cheekwood a month after the 2024 Swan Ball, shocking the botanical garden that had hosted the party since its inception in 1963. —Evan Mealins, The Tennessean, 17 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French soirée evening period, evening party, from Middle French, from soir evening, from Latin sero at a late hour, from serus late; akin to Old Irish sír long, lasting and perhaps to Old English sīth late — more at since

First Known Use

1793, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

soiree

noun

soi·​ree

variants or soirée

swä-ˈrā 

: an evening party or social gathering