oeuvre

Alternative forms

• œuvre

Etymology

From French œuvre, from Old French uevre, from Latin opera (plural of Latin opus), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- (“work”). Doublet of opera, opus, and ure.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɜːvɹə/, /ˈuːvɹə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈəːvɹə/, /ˈuːvɹə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

oeuvre (plural oeuvres)

1. A work of art.
   • 1990 February 22, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes‎:

     (Calvin) This piece is about the inadequacy of traditional imagery and symbols to convey meaning in today's world. By abandoning representationalism, I'm free to express myself with pure form. Specific interpretation gives way to a more visceral response.
     (Hobbes) I notice your oeuvre is monochromatic.
     (Calvin) Well c'mon, it's just snow.

2. (uncountable, collective) The complete body of an artist's work.

   Synonyms: body of work, complete works

   • 1997, Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, Totem Books, Icon Books, →ISBN, page 7:

     Let’s “fictionalize” Foucault’s life by turning it into a biographical account of Foucault and his oeuvre or work.

   • 2006, Michel Foucault, “Madness, the absence of an œuvre.”, in Jean Khalfa, transl., edited by Jean Khalfa, In History of Madness, Routledge, →ISBN, pages 541–549:

     There, in that pale region, beneath that essential cover, the twin incompatibility of an œuvre and madness is unveiled; it is the blind spot of each one's possibility, and of their mutual exclusion.

   • 2012 April 23, Barbara B. Heyman, “Introduction”, in Samuel Barber: A Thematic Catalogue of the Complete Works, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:

     Although, at the onset of my writing this catalogue, his forty-eight opus numbers suggested a small output, in fact his oeuvre comprised more than 100 published and nearly as many unpublished pieces representative of nearly every musical genre.

Further reading

• “oeuvre”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “oeuvre”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “oeuvre”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “oeuvre”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “oeuvre”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “oeuvre”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “oeuvre”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

oeuvre n (plural oeuvres, diminutive oeuvretje n)

1. oeuvre

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /œvʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

oeuvre f (plural oeuvres)

1. Nonstandard spelling of œuvre.

Further reading

• “oeuvre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• érouve

Alternative forms

• œuvre

Etymology

Old French uevre.

Noun

oeuvre m or f (plural oeuvres)

1. work; piece of work