Definition of MILIEUS (original) (raw)
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Milieu comes from Old French mi (meaning "middle") and lieu ("place"). The word refers to an environment or setting. In English, lieu also is used to mean "place" and most often occurs in the phrase "in lieu of," as in "Cash is preferred but in lieu of cash a credit card is acceptable."
Synonyms
Choose the Right Synonym for milieu
the shocking decision was part of the background of the riots
setting suggests looking at real-life situations in literary or dramatic terms.
a militant reformer who was born into an unlikely social setting
environment applies to all the external factors that have a formative influence on one's physical, mental, or moral development.
the kind of environment that produces juvenile delinquents
milieu applies especially to the physical and social surroundings of a person or group of persons.
an intellectual milieu conducive to artistic experimentation
mise-en-scène strongly suggests the use of properties to achieve a particular atmosphere or theatrical effect.
a gothic thriller with a carefully crafted mise-en-scène
Examples of milieu in a Sentence
Theirs was a bohemian milieu in which people often played romantic musical chairs. —
Edmund White, New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2009 People in France admire the United States, and much of what passes for anti-Americanism is limited to the intellectual milieu of Paris. —Jonathan Alter et al., Newsweek, 29 May 2000 She might stay home, might marry and live as a housewife. And if her milieu does not sanction such a solution, there are, she knows, milieux which do. —David Mamet, Jafsie and John Henry: Essays, 1999 Certainly there are very few American milieus today in which having read the latest work of Joyce Carol Oates or Richard Ford is more valuable, as social currency, than having caught the latest John Travolta movie or knowing how to navigate the Web. —Jonathan Franzen, Harper's, April 1996 They're caught in their own hazy milieu—working, smoking, talking, drinking. —Gerri Hirshey, Rolling Stone, 12 Nov. 1992
young, innovative artists thrive in the freewheeling milieu that a big city offers
Recent Examples on the Web In the early two-thousands, American indie films drifted away from hedged yards and time-shares and toward the twee apartments of the mumblecore milieu. —Elena Saavedra Buckley, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2024 Houston’s energy system has had its own unique issues within this milieu. —Umair Irfan, Vox, 17 July 2024 Like Woody Allen with his Upper East (or West) Side, the director limits himself to a very specific, very white intellectual milieu in Lyon, which is a city that’s grown increasingly diverse over the years, especially in its surrounding suburbs. —Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Aug. 2024 The films were mostly white and middle-class, but the prevalence of that milieu and — by extension, its apoliticality — feels like more of an industry-wide concern. —Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for milieu 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'milieu.' 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
French, from Old French, midst, from mi middle (from Latin medius) + lieu place, from Latin locus — more at mid, stall
First Known Use
1854, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of milieu was in 1854
Dictionary Entries Near milieu
Cite this Entry
“Milieu.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/milieu. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.
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Last Updated: 25 Sep 2024 - Updated example sentences
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