RAISON D'ETRE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Raison d'etre

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/rˈeɪsɑn dˈɛtri/ Listen

Raison d'etre

noun

Reason for being.

The purpose that justifies a thing's existence.

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Etymology of 'Raison d'etre'

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"Raison d'etre" Quotes from Famous Books

... element in question would soon have become practically all you'd see. To me it's exactly as palpable as the marble of this chimney. Besides, the critic just ISN'T a plain man: if he were, pray, what would he be doing in his neighbour's garden? You're anything but a plain man yourself, and the very raison d'etre of you all is that you're little demons of subtlety. If my great affair's a secret, that's only because it's a secret in spite of itself—the amazing event has made it one. I not only never took the smallest precaution to keep it so, but ...

— The Figure in the Carpet • Henry James

... power vehicle they have made their own. As to their larger carriages, experience has proved their practical value; they have expended even more trouble on their power cycles, but it appears to us that ingenuity and skill are largely wasted in this direction, since the raison d'etre of the cycle in all its forms lies in the fact that it should give perfect freedom to the rider and leave him dependent for his progress upon ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896 • Various

Words linked to "Raison d'etre" : rationalisation, use, role, rationalization, purpose, function