enfant terrible

enfant terrible

A famous person who is known to behave inappropriately, often to others' shock or horror. As this phrase is French for "terrible child," it is typically pronounced with a French accent. If you continue to have tantrums on the court, you will be known as the enfant terrible of tennis. He is the enfant terrible of high society, so of course he wore blue jeans to the gala.
See also: terrible
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • act up
  • do unto others
  • act out
  • love begets love
  • love breeds love
  • hate begets hate
  • hate breeds hate
  • beget
  • be good
  • act the fool
References in periodicals archive
The Oscar-nominated film-maker, who began his career in television, had a reputation as an enfant terrible of the British movie world.
Enfant Terrible Astounding record For any trainer to have 17 winners at a meeting is just astounding.
Notwithstanding his enfant terrible image, many in Bollywood have him to thank for their changed fortunes.
Described by editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, as a "modern genius", Lee Alexander McQueen earned himself a reputation as the "enfant terrible" of British fashion.
Some think their styles are very different - Terry is as comfortable as an old cardigan and Chris some sort of enfant terrible. Well, that's typecasting for you.
WHEN THE CZECH Republic took over the rotating presidency of the European Union, it asked David Cerny, the enfant terrible of the Czech art world, to produce a sculpture symbolizing European unity and cooperation.
As a songwriter, Chapman-Smith is most successful when she treads on the light jazz territory demonstrated on "Carnival Song," "In the Quiet" and "Urbanity." Witty and wry, she's lyrically at her best on "A Glass of Right & Wrong," where she is reminiscent of the American enfant terrible of cabaret, Nellie McKay.
Napoleon's Enfant terrible; General Dominique Vandamme.
Garbage lasts forever." Argentinean Constanza Macras grew from the "Who-hired-this-choreographer?" kid to the most popular enfant terrible in the Berlin dance scene when she sold out seven performances of Back to the Present in 2004.
Nerone is an enfant terrible, a dread-locked cross between Michael Jackson and David Beckham, wielding the power of a spoiled child.
At only 34, this enfant terrible with an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and a growing reputation in Europe already boasts a signature style.
A tribute to the brash works of the enfant terrible of the art world in the 1980s.
Former enfant terrible of France's nouvelle vague gets his own grown-up show, tracing a trajectory from early projects such as Nemausus experimental housing in Nimes to a new national museum of anthropology in Paris.