Word of the Day

: October 18, 2018

de rigueur

adjective duh-ree-GUR

What It Means

: prescribed or required by fashion, etiquette, or custom : proper

de rigueur in Context

"[Emma] Stone, who patiently smiled through the de rigueur photo shoot in front of a backdrop emblazoned with the logos of the festival and its sponsors, should be extra light on her feet these days after singing and dancing with co-star Ryan Gosling in one of the opening night movies, 'La La Land.'" — Paul Liberatore, The Marin Independent Journal (Marin County, California), 6 Oct. 2016

"It's fascinating to compare not only the speeches that Robert and the king's heir give before heading into combat, but also Robert's words with those Gibson's Wallace delivers in 'Braveheart.' So much has changed in nearly a quarter century's time that Mackenzie's idea of blockbuster heroism robs his 'Outlaw King' of the bombastic pep talk that would have been de rigueur for a studio movie." — John Simon, The Weekly Standard, 2 Mar. 2018

Did You Know?

If you're invited to a ball or other social function and the invitation includes the French phrase costume de rigueur, you are expected to adhere to a very strict dress code—typically, a white tie and tails if you're a man and a floor-length evening gown if you're a woman. In French, de rigueur means "out of strictness" or "according to strict etiquette"; one definition of our word rigor, to which rigueur is related, is "the quality of being strict, unyielding, or inflexible." In English, we tend to use de rigueur to describe a fashion or custom that is so commonplace within a context that it seems a prescribed, mandatory part of it.