oeuvre

noun

oeu·​vre ˈu̇-vrə How to pronounce oeuvre (audio)
ˈər-,
ˈə-,
ˈœ- How to pronounce oeuvre (audio)
plural oeuvres ˈu̇-vrə How to pronounce oeuvre (audio)
ˈə(r)-,
ˈœ- How to pronounce oeuvre (audio)
: a substantial body of work constituting the lifework of a writer, an artist, or a composer
a catalogue of Rembrandt's oeuvre
scrupulously examines Dickens' oeuvre in order to demonstrate how his convictions helped to determine the shape of his novelsG. J. Worth

Examples of oeuvre in a Sentence

a novel that occupies a relatively minor position in the author's oeuvre
Recent Examples on the Web The idea of transparency has informed much of Yamamoto’s oeuvre — and not only housing. Oscar Holland, CNN, 5 Mar. 2024 The first space immediately establishes the sense of spare elegance that dominates the artist’s oeuvre, which unfolds across performance, installation, film, text, sound and sculpture. Emily Labarge, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024 What Mike Flanagan has done here is more an inventive remix of the best of Poe's oeuvre, creating something that's entirely Flanagan's own while still channeling the very essence of Poe. Ars Staff, Ars Technica, 29 Dec. 2023 Her multidisciplinary path will be explored in a traveling retrospective, the first in over 20 years to highlight her oeuvre, kicking off with roughly 200 works at the Noguchi Museum in Queens, a fitting starting point considering Takaezu and sculptor Isamu Noguchi were close friends. Julie Belcove, Robb Report, 24 Feb. 2024 His most compelling displays of vulnerability, however, may be found in his heartbreak ballads, a staple of his oeuvre that’s wildly popular, going by the success of Confessions. Cady Lang, TIME, 6 Feb. 2024 The historical novels that make up most of his oeuvre favor the Enlightenment and its ideas, but there are also currents of mid-twentieth-century surrealism and existentialism, Afro-Caribbean legend, Hollywoodesque epic, and Victorian maximalism. Natasha Wimmer, The New York Review of Books, 1 Feb. 2024 His oeuvre has been produced from Hartford to Houston, and is known for seamlessly blending political and cultural discourse along with the magical and crude. Luis G. Rendon, Los Angeles Times, 1 Feb. 2024 Though couples have previously performed to Houston songs on the show (including Jordin Sparks in season 31 just last year), this will mark the first time that the singer's entire oeuvre is featured as a theme on the long-running dance series. EW.com, 23 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oeuvre.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, literally, "work," going back to Old French ovre, going back to Latin opera "activity, effort, attention, work," collective derivative from oper-, opus "work, effort, product of labor" — more at opus

First Known Use

1889, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of oeuvre was in 1889

Dictionary Entries Near oeuvre

Cite this Entry

“Oeuvre.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oeuvre. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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