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apercu

Other forms: apercus

An apercu is a brief, clever review or summation of something. If your synopsis of last week's episode of your favorite TV show is funny and sharp, you can call it an apercu.

Sometimes an apercu is simply a witty comment or a clever anecdote: "He is so fun at parties because he always comes up with such brilliant apercus." The word is often spelled with a cedilla, a French accent that softens the C so that it's pronounced like an S: aperçu. The word is from the French apercevoir, "to perceive."

Definitions of apercu
  1. noun
    a short synopsis
    see moresee less
    type of:
    abstract, outline, precis, synopsis
    a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument or theory
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