Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesA failure to remember something, with the sense that recall is imminent.
A psychologist might have termed it presque vu—the sense people sometimes get that something amazing is about to happen—but my name for it was much more humble: a harmony.
2011, Stephen King, 11/22/63, New York: Scribner, →ISBN, page 784 of 784–7851 more example
The subtle, recurring confusion between illusion and reality that was characteristic of paramnesia fascinated the chaplain, and he knew a number of things about it. He knew, for example, that it was called paramnesia, and he was interested as well in such corollary optical phenomena as jamais vu, never seen, and presque vu, almost seen.
1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Frenchpresque“almost”
- Englishpresque vu
Borrowed from French presque (“almost”) + vu (“seen”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
presque vu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/presque%20vu
“presque vu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/presque%20vu. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “presque vu,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/presque%20vu.
Source: presque vu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.