mot juste

plural mots justes

1. The perfectly appropriate word or phrase for the situation.

   Wattpad is not the sort of site where writers talk about suffering for their art or spend hours searching for the mot juste.

   2014 March 23, David Streitfeld, “Web Fiction, Serialized and Social”, in New York Times

   1 more example

   She legged it, and for a moment silence reigned. Then Bobbie said, “Phew!” and I agreed that “Phew!” was the mot juste.

   1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter V

   Synonyms: winged word