arrière-pensée

noun

A mental reservation or ulterior motive.

OriginFrench arrière-pensée →
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Meanings

nounarrière-pensée (plural arrière-pensées or (proscribed) arrières-pensées)

plural arrière-pensées · plural proscribed arrières-pensées

  1. A mental reservation or ulterior motive.

    He knew that I had guessed his arrière-pensée, but he let me off for the moment, for which I was thankful; either because he was still ashamed of it, or because he supposed I was reserving myself for the catastrophe,—should it occur.

    1884, Henry James, “The Path of Duty”, in The English Illustrated Magazine, 2(15): 240-256

Origin

  1. Frencharrière-pensée
  2. Frencharrière-pensée
  3. Englisharrière-pensée

Borrowed from French arrière-pensée.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

arrière-pensée. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arri%C3%A8re-pens%C3%A9e

MLA

“arrière-pensée.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arri%C3%A8re-pens%C3%A9e. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arrière-pensée,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arri%C3%A8re-pens%C3%A9e.

Source: arrière-pensée on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.