Word of the Day

: February 17, 2024

rapport

noun ra-POR

What It Means

When you have a rapport with someone, your relationship is characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy.

// Once our daughter had developed a rapport with her piano teacher, she began to show some real enthusiasm for learning and practicing the piano.

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rapport in Context

"No one ever equaled the [Smothers] brothers' unique rapport, blending folk music and natural conversations with sibling rivalry and comical bickering." — Marc Freeman, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Dec. 2023

Did You Know?

The word rapport bears a resemblance to a more common English word, report, which is no coincidence: both words come ultimately from the Latin verb portare, meaning "to carry," and both traveled through French words meaning "to bring back" on their way to English. Report has been in use since the 14th century, when it entered Middle English by way of Anglo-French. Rapport was first used in the mid-15th century as a synonym of report in its "account or statement" meaning, but that meaning had become obsolete by the mid-19th century. It wasn't until the early 20th century that English speakers borrowed rapport back from French in the meaning of "a friendly, harmonious relationship." We're happy to report that rapport has since flourished, and we trust this friendly word will stick around a while.