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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
By the ’90s, as the AIDS epidemic devastated precisely the artistic and LGBT+ communities that made up Atlas’s milieu, much of his work became forged by a sense of loss, danger, and violence. —Beatrice Loayza, ARTnews.com, 6 Feb. 2025 The song is a cheeky touch, but also a nod to Daryle’s milieu: a lowbrow America of swamp tours, chain motels, and motorcycle shops. —Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2025 The comic went on to emphasize the country’s glaring economic inequality while expressing concern for people outside his own wealthy milieu. —Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 19 Jan. 2025 While pointing his camera deep into his own milieu, that of filmmaking, there was one very important place that Lynch hadn’t been pointing it: at himself. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for milieu 
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 14 Feb. 2025.
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Last Updated: 12 Feb 2025 - Updated example sentences
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