Voltaire

American

[vohl-tair, vol-, vawl-ter] / voʊlˈtɛər, vɒl-, vɔlˈtɛr /

noun

François Marie Arouet, 1694–1778, French philosopher, historian, satirist, dramatist, and essayist.

Voltaire British

/ vəʊl-, vɔltɛr, vɒlˈtɛə /

noun

pseudonym of François Marie Arouet. 1694–1778, French writer, whose outspoken belief in religious, political, and social liberty made him the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. His major works include Lettres philosophiques (1734) and the satire Candide (1759). He also wrote plays, such as Zaïre (1732), poems, and scientific studies. He suffered several periods of banishment for his radical views

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Voltaire Cultural

The nom de plume of François Arouet, an eighteenth-century French philosopher and author and a major figure of the Enlightenment. Voltaire was known as a wit and freethinker. The most famous of his works is Candide.

Other Word Forms

Voltairean adjective
Voltairian adjective

Compare meaning

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Voltaire vs. Rousseau

Example Sentences

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“O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous,” Voltaire, the 18th-century French enlightenment philosopher, himself known for his bons mots, once wrote, adding: “God granted my prayer.”

From The Wall Street Journal

As Voltaire warned, “Truly, whoever is able to make you absurd is able to make you unjust.”

From Salon

When Deffand was asked to contribute her letters to Voltaire to a posthumous edition of his correspondence, she refused; she did not want to give posterity “any occasion for myself to be spoken of.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The restaurant is housed at the Consulat Voltaire, an old electricity sub-station turned cultural centre, in the 11th district of Paris near the place de la Bastille.

From Barron's

Voltaire would have warned that history repeats and repeats and repeats.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023