Meanings
nouvelle vague1
alternative Nouvelle Vague
- uncountablebroadcastingAn influential French film movement of the 1950s and 1960s which experimented radically in editing, visual style and narrative
The light of the nouvelle vague—the “new wave” in French cinema that crested in the early sixties—was special.
2000, Gilberto Perez, The Material Ghost, JHU Press, →ISBN, page 3361 more example
Perhaps the great connection between the American film noir and the French nouvelle vague is best thought of in terms of the philosophical implications of life and death as seen in the disruptions and resumed continuity of the French narratives, which never forsake their graceful ritual.
2002, Andrew Dickos, Street with No Name, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 222Synonyms: New Wave
- broadlyuncountableA new movement in art or society.
Nouvelle Vague2
- uncountableAlternative letter-case form of nouvelle vague.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn influential French film movement of the 1950s and 1960s which experimented radically in editing, visual style and narrative
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchnouvelle vague
- Englishnouvelle vague
Unadapted borrowing from French nouvelle vague (literally “new wave”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
nouvelle vague. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nouvelle%20vague
“nouvelle vague.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nouvelle%20vague. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nouvelle vague,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nouvelle%20vague.
Source: nouvelle vague on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.