bienséance

noun

Propriety, decorum.

OriginFrench bienséance →
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Meanings

nounbienséance (uncountable)
  1. uncountablePropriety, decorum.

    In the evening it was very different; and, bred in a country where much attention is paid, or was at least then paid, to bienseance, I was desirous to think for Miss Vernon concerning those points of propriety where her experience did not afford her the means of thinking for herself.

    1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 22

Origin

  1. Frenchbienséance
  2. Frenchbienséance
  3. Englishbienséance

Borrowed from French bienséance.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bienséance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biens%C3%A9ance

MLA

“bienséance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biens%C3%A9ance. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bienséance,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biens%C3%A9ance.

Source: bienséance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.