de haut en bas

UK/dəˌ(h)əʊtɒnˈba/

adverb

With condescension; superciliously. Also used attributively.

OriginFrench de haut en bas →
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Meanings

adverbde haut en bas (not comparable)
  1. not comparableWith condescension; superciliously. Also used attributively.

    Thomas initially took a de haut en bas attitude to Nazism, expecting it to be a flash in the pan.

    2016 April, Stoddard Martin, Literary Review, page 19
    1 more example

    The landlady looked at him de haut en bas, rather pitying, and at the same time, resenting his clear, fierce morality.

    1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 4, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

Origin

  1. Frenchde haut en bas
  2. Frenchde haut en bas
  3. Englishde haut en bas

Borrowed from French de haut en bas (“from on high to low”).

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Russian свысока́
  • свысока́ (svysoká)with condescension
Cite this entry
APA

de haut en bas. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/de%20haut%20en%20bas

MLA

“de haut en bas.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/de%20haut%20en%20bas. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “de haut en bas,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/de%20haut%20en%20bas.

Source: de haut en bas on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.