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Gather together various documents relating to the affairs of a certain individual, sort them into separate folders, label the spine of each folder, and arrange the folders in a box. Dossier, the French word for such a compendium of spine-labeled folders, was picked up by English speakers in the 19th century. It comes from dos, the French word for "back." The verb endorse (which originally meant "to write on the back of") and the rare adjective addorsed ("set or turned back to back," a term primarily used in heraldry) are also derived, via the Anglo-French endosser and French adosser respectively, from dos. The French dos has its origins in the Latin dorsum, a word which also gave English the adjective dorsal ("situated on the back"), as in "the dorsal fin of a whale."
Examples of dossier in a Sentence
Jesus Mesa, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Nov. 2025
The full dossier of evidence against Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz in the ongoing betting scandal.
—Chris Branch, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2025
The dossier also claimed that the BBC’s top brass ignored complaints and suggestions by the standards committee.
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 9 Nov. 2025
Jordan alleged that the former CIA director lied to Congress about the agency’s involvement with the Steele dossier.
—David Zimmermann, The Washington Examiner, 8 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Dossier.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dossier. Accessed 27 Nov. 2025.
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dossier
noun
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