jeunesse doree: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for July 27 is:

jeunesse doree \zheuh-ness-dor-RAY\ noun
: young people of wealth and fashion

Example sentence:
"On any sunny afternoon in Dublin, you will see the jeunesse doree taking their ease under the awnings of pavement cafes." (Bruce Anderson, _The Spectator_, July 2001)

Did you know?
French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre and his allies, the Jacobins, gained many enemies for their role in the Reign of Terror. One of their fiercest opponents was Louis Freron, a former Jacobin who played a key role in overthrowing their government. On July 27, 1794, counter-revolutionaries toppled the Jacobin regime and had Robespierre arrested and executed. In the midst of the chaos that followed, Louis Freron organized gangs of fashionably dressed young toughs to terrorize the remaining Jacobins. French speakers called those stylish young thugs the "jeunesse doree" -- literally, the "gilded youth." By the time the term "jeunesse doree" was adopted into English in the 1830s, it had lost its association with violent street gangs and simply referred to any wealthy young socialites.

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