rocambolesque

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French rocambolesque, in reference to Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's character Rocambole.

Adjective

rocambolesque (comparative more rocambolesque, superlative most rocambolesque)

1. Fantastic, incredible, fabulous.

   a rocambolesque story

   • 2001, “Chapter 14: Structure, Contingency, and Choice”, in Joan Wallach Scott, Debra Keates, editors, Schools of Thought: Twenty-five Years of Interpretive Social Science, Princeton University Press, page 267:

     Behind much of this were particular concrete New Left movements, some serious, some more rocambolesque.

   • 2004, Christopher Wood, Sincere Male Seeks Love and Someone to Wash His Underpants, Twenty First Century Publishers, page 18:

     Though not exactly seeking carpet slippers and the reassuring click of knitting needles he had envisaged a future rather less rocambolesque than the plot of the average Tarantino movie.

   • 2017, Matteo Salvadore, The African Prester John and the Birth of Ethiopian-European Relations, 1402-1555, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 121:

     The latter in particular was an unlikely candidate for what would turn out to be the most rocambolesque experiences in the entire history of the encounter.

Translations

fantastic

• Catalan: rocambolesc (ca)
• French: rocambolesque (fr)
• Italian: rocambolesco (it)
• Spanish: rocambolesco (es)

French

Etymology

From Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's character Rocambole + -esque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɔ.kɑ̃.bɔ.lɛsk/

• Audio:

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Adjective

rocambolesque (plural rocambolesques)

1. fantastic, unusual, incredible, wacky

   Synonyms: incroyable, inimaginable, inouï, invraisemblable

Descendants

• → English: rocambolesque
• → Italian: rocambolesco
• → Spanish: rocambolesco

Further reading

• “rocambolesque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.