French–English dictionary

mayonnaise

Any cold dish with that dressing as an ingredient.

mazette

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) Used to express anger, excitement, surprise, etc. [From late 19th c.]

MC

(ambitransitive) To act as the master of ceremonies (for).

MCE

(EU, finance) Initialism of European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

mcx

Abbreviation of piece.

mdr

(Internet slang, text messaging) Lots of laughs. (occasionally used)

me

(colloquial, proscribed) Myself; as a reflexive indirect object of a verb; the ethical dative.

mé-

Bad or wrong; badly or wrongly.

mea culpa

I was wrong.

méandreux

Winding or rambling.

mec

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, informal) A fellow, a man; especially an ordinary man, a man on the street. [From 1847]

mécanique

The part of a lute-type string instrument, such as a guitar, that holds the tuning pegs or tensioning screws of the strings.

mécaniquement

From a mechanical point of view.

mécanisation

The use of machinery to replace human or animal labour, especially in agriculture and industry.

mécanisé

Equipped with machinery.

mécanisme

(within a machine or machinery) Any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.

mécénat

The act of providing approval and support; backing; championship.

mécène

A generous benefactor; specifically, a patron of literature or art.

mecha

(anime, manga) A large armoured robot on legs, typically controlled by a pilot seated inside.

méchamment

In a wicked manner.

méchanceté

Intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another's misfortune.

méchant

Bold, daring, and tough.

méchante

A person who performs evil acts.

mèche

A cord that, when lit, conveys the fire to some explosive device, such as a bomb.

mèche de bougie

(countable) A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a liquid fuel (such as melted tallow or wax, or oil) at one end, to be ignited at the other end to produce a flame.

mécommunication

An interaction between two parties in which information is/was not communicated as desired.

mécomprendre

(transitive) To understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly.

méconduite

(tort law) Improper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person.

méconnaissable

That cannot be recognized, especially because of substantial changes.

mécontent

Unhappy; dissatisfied

mécontentement

Unhappiness or discontent.

mécréant

(theology) Holding an incorrect religious belief.

mécréante

(theology) One who holds a false religious belief; a misbeliever.

mécroire

To not believe; to exercise disbelief.

médaille

A trophy or medal; something that denotes an accomplishment, especially in a competition. A prize or honor based on merit.

médaille d'or

☉ (alchemy)

médaillée

Someone who has received a medal. [from 18th c.]

médaillon

A large medal, usually decorative.

médecin

A physician; a person who holds a doctoral degree or first professional degree in medicine, and practices in that profession.

médecin légiste

(Commonwealth, Ireland, Japan, legal) A public official who presides over an inquest into unnatural deaths, and who may have (or historically had) additional powers such as investigating cases of treasure trove.

médecine

(uncountable, countable) A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.

Médée

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece.

média

A format for communicating or presenting information.

médian

(statistics) Having the median as its value. [from 19th c.]

médiane

(statistics) Having the median as its value. [from 19th c.]

médias

(usually, with a definite article; often treated as, _, uncountable) The journalists and other professionals who comprise the mass communication industry.

médiateur

(idiomatic) A person who establishes friendly relations between parties.

médiatrice

A person who helps a group to have an effective dialog without taking any side of the argument, especially in order to reach a consensus.

médical

Of or pertaining to the practice of medicine.

médicament

(uncountable, countable) A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.

médicament générique

A product sold under a generic name.

médicamenteux

Tending or used to cure disease or relieve pain.

médicaments

(broadly, countable) Any treatment or cure.

médicastre

(dated, now, chiefly, literary) A quack doctor; someone who pretends to have medical knowledge.

médicinal

Tending or used to cure disease or relieve pain.

médicolégal

Relating to the use of science and technology in the investigation and establishment of facts or evidence in a court of law.

Médie

(historical) A geographic region and ancient satrapy of the Persian Empire in northwestern Iran, originally inhabited by the Medes.

médiéval

Someone living in the Middle Ages.

médina

The traditional, older or non-European area of a North African town.

Médine

A city, the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, named for the city in Saudi Arabia.

médiocre

(politics, chiefly, UK, Australia, NZ, of a constituency) Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usually being inferred from the small winning margin of the previous election.

médiocrité

(uncountable) The condition of being mediocre; having only an average degree of quality, skills etc.; no better than standard.

médire

(transitive) To criticise so as to besmirch; traduce, disparage or defame.

méditatif

Deeply or seriously thoughtful.

méditerranéen

Of or pertaining to the Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding region.

médium

The materials or empty space through which signals, waves, or forces pass.

médius

The finger between the forefinger and the ring finger.

Médor

A stereotypical en given name.

Méduse

(Greek mythology) The youngest and only mortal of the three gorgon sisters, killed by Perseus.

méduser

(transitive) To render motionless, by arousing terror, amazement or awe.

meeting

A public gathering or mass meeting that is not mainly a protest and is organized to inspire enthusiasm for a cause.

méfait

(legal) A criminal offence defined in various ways in various jurisdictions, sometimes including causing damage to another's property.

méfiance

Lack of trust or confidence.

méfiant

(archaic) Lacking confidence in others; distrustful.

méga

(colloquial) Very large.

mega-

(slang, augmentative) Super; really; mega-.

mégabit

(computing) One million (106, or 1,000,000) bits or 1,000 kilobits. Equals 125,000 bytes (125 kilobytes).

mégabyte

(computing, formal) One million (106, or 1,000,000) bytes or 1,000 kilobytes.

mégacité

A very large city; a megalopolis.

mégalomane

Of, exhibiting, or affected with megalomania.

mégalopole

A large conurbation, where two or more large cities have sprawled outward to meet, forming something larger than a normal metropolis.

Mégane

A en given name.

mégaoctet

(computing, formal) One million (106, or 1,000,000) bytes or 1,000 kilobytes.

mégaphone

A portable, usually hand-held, funnel-shaped device that is used to amplify a person’s natural voice toward a targeted direction.

mégère

(derogatory) An ugly woman.

mégoter

(figurative) To correct insignificant mistakes or find fault in unimportant details.

meige

(dated, now, chiefly, literary) A quack doctor; someone who pretends to have medical knowledge.

meilleur

Most superior; most favorable.

meilleur ami

An especially close and trusted friend.

meilleur morceau

A desirable or choice thing of its kind; a prize selection; a choice appointment, assignment etc. [from 19th c.]

meilleure

Most superior; most favorable.

meilleure amie

An especially close and trusted friend.

méiose

(usually, uncountable, cytology) Cell division of a diploid cell into four haploid cells, which develop to produce gametes.

Mékong

A river in southeastern Asia that flows about 4,183 km (2,600 miles) from Tibet to the South China Sea in Vietnam.

mélancolie

(idiomatic, dated) A melancholy mood accompanied by deep thought; a moody daydream.

mélancolique

Unhappy; despondent.

mélange

A collection containing a confused variety of miscellaneous things.

mélanger

(transitive) To mix together; to intermingle or blend.

Mélanie

A en given name.

mélanine

(biochemistry) Any of a group of naturally occurring dark pigments, especially the pigment found in skin, hair, fur, and feathers.

mélano-

Melanin or relationship thereto.

mélanome

(oncology, disease) A dark-pigmented, usually malignant tumor arising from a melanocyte and occurring most commonly in the skin.

mélasse

A thick, sweet syrup drained from sugarcane, especially (North America) the still thicker and sweeter syrup produced by boiling down raw molasses.

Melbourne

The capital city of Victoria, Australia and former capital of Australia (1901–1927).

mêlé

Having two or more separate aspects.

mêle-tout

Someone who interferes with others; one who is nosy, intrusive or meddlesome.

mêlée

(American football) A pile of tackling players.

mêler

(intransitive) To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.

méli-mélo

A collection containing a confused variety of miscellaneous things.

mélimélo

A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.

méliphage tui

A species of honeyeater, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, a bird which is endemic to New Zealand. [from early 19th c.]

Mélissa

A en given name.

mélisse

A perennial herb, of species Melissa officinalis, of southern Europe; used as a flavouring in ice cream etc.

mélo

(US, colloquial) Corny; overly or unbelievably sentimental.

Mélodie

A en given name.

mélodieux

(figurative) Sweet, smooth and musical; pleasant to hear (generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style).

mélodramatique

Of or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action.

mélodrame

(countable) A drama abounding in romantic sentiment and agonizing situations, with a musical accompaniment only in parts which are especially thrilling or pathetic.

mélolonthe

Any of the large European beetles from the genus Melolontha that are destructive to vegetation.

melon d'eau

A plant of the species Citrullus lanatus, bearing a melon-like fruit.

melons

(usually, in the plural, slang) The breasts.

melting pot

(figurative) A place where many divergent things (often races or cultures, but also talents) come together and are homogenized.

mém

The thirteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).

membrane

(mechanics) A flexible membrane separating two chambers and fixed around its periphery that distends into one or other chamber as the difference in the pressure in the chambers varies.

membrane des oeufs

(zoology) The membrane of a fish ovary.

membre

(set theory) One of the objects in a set.

membre du Congrès

A male member of congress.

membre du personnel

A member of a staff; an employee.

membrure

(nautical) Any of the curved rib-like timbers that form the frame of a wooden ship.

même

In reality; implying an extreme example in the case mentioned, as compared to the implied reality.

même si

Regardless of whether; irrespective of (something happening or being the case).

mêmes

(not comparable) Not different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; numerically identical.

mémoire

A thesis submitted for a master's degree.

mémoire cache

(computing) A fast temporary storage where recently or frequently used information is stored to avoid having to reload it from a slower storage medium.

mémoire RAM

(electronics, computing) Acronym of random-access memory.

mémoire tampon

(telecommunications) A routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.

mémoires

A biography; a book describing the experiences of a subject from personal knowledge of the subject or from sources with personal knowledge of the subject.

mémorable

Worthy to be remembered; very important or remarkable.

memorandum

A short note; a memorandum.

mémorial

A structure built for commemorative or symbolic reasons, or as a memorial; a commemoration.

mémoriel

Serving as a remembrance of someone or something; commemorative.

mémorisation

The act of committing something to memory or memorizing.

mémoriser

To fully learn so as to have entirely available to the memory; to learn by heart, commit to memory.

Memphis

A city of ancient Egypt.

menaçant

Specifically, giving indication of a coming ill; being an evil omen

menace

A perceived threat or danger. [a. 1300]

menacer

(transitive) To put into peril; to place in danger.

ménage

Entirety of work and management required to sustain the household.

ménage à trois

An instance of sexual activity involving three people.

ménager

A man who tends to his home as a housekeeper or homemaker; the male equivalent of a housewife.