milieu

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noun mi·lieu \ mēl-ˈyər , -ˈyə , -ˈyü , -ˈyœ ; ˈmēl-ˌyü \

Updated on: 11 Sep 2017

Definition of milieu

plural milieus or milieux play \-ˈyə(r)(z), -ˈyüz, -ˈyœ(z); -ˌyü(z)\

:the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops :environment

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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 of milieu from the Web

As a pioneer in the milieu, will Halima become a token or will she be joined by more hijab-wearing models in high fashion?

— jihane hajby, Allure, "Why We Need to Discuss The Hijab in Western Fashion," 20 Aug. 2017
The Safdie brothers plunge into the seedy milieu with such imagination and energy that the results are never less than hypnotic.

— ben sachs, Chicago Reader, "Crime / Film The darkly comic crime drama Good Time is an empty provocation," 17 Aug. 2017
But as seems always to be the case with a Sheridan film, just as important as the mystery is its milieu.

— robert w. butler, kansascity, "Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen and wow scenery: ‘Wind River’ goes west in style," 16 Aug. 2017
In the greater DOE milieu, Dabbar is very well known, says Daniel Poneman, president and CEO of Centrus Energy Corp. in Bethesda, Maryland, who from 2009 to 2014 served as DOE’s deputy secretary of energy.

— adrian cho, Science | AAAS, "Nominee for Department of Energy’s undersecretary for science draws praise," 19 July 2017
After three years with Lauder, King realized the corporate world was not her milieu and instead decided to once again launch a boutique lipstick brand, this time under the name Lipstick Queen.

— christine whitney, The Cut, "The Beauty Entrepreneur Who Swears She Can Tell Your Personality by Your Lips," 10 July 2017
Women enjoy much more prominence in the milieu of low-budget independent movies, where the stories are more focused on ordinary people with real-world problems, but those movies usually attract small audiences.

— kyle smith, National Review, "If You Like Art, Don’t Take the Bechdel Test," 10 July 2017
And to that point, war-torn and traumatized places just like Mosul and Raqqa are exactly the kinds of milieus where militant groups like ISIS are born and bred.

— jonah shepp, Daily Intelligencer, "ISIS’s Caliphate Is Collapsing, But Don’t Celebrate Just Yet," 30 June 2017
Williams’ narrative offers a tropical milieu of rumrunners, skulduggery, concealed identity, dangerous complications for Virginia and her toddler daughter Evelyn — and lots of entertainment for readers.

— melinda bargreen, The Seattle Times, "9 sunny new novels for beach reading," 29 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'milieu.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

milieu Entered English in the 1800s

The etymology of milieu comes down to "mi" and "lieu." English speakers learned the word (and borrowed both its spelling and meaning) from French. The modern French term comes from two much older French forms, mi, meaning "middle," and lieu, meaning "place." Like so many terms in the Romance languages, those Old French forms can ultimately be traced to Latin; "mi" is an offspring of the Latin medius(meaning "middle") and "lieu" is a derivative of "locus" (meaning "place"). English speakers have used "milieu" for the environment or setting of something since at least the mid-1800s, but other "lieu" descendants are much older. We've used both "lieu" itself (meaning "place" or "stead," as in "in lieu of") and "lieutenant" since the 14th century.

Origin and Etymology of milieu

French, from Old French, midst, from mi middle (from Latin medius) + lieu place, from Latin locus — more at mid, stall

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1854

See Words from the same year

milieu Synonyms

Synonyms

ambient, atmosphere, climate, clime, context, contexture, environs, medium, environment, mise-en-scène, setting, surround, surroundings, terrain

Related Words

location, place, position, space; backdrop, background; element; situation, status; geography, habitat; microenvironment

Synonym Discussion of milieu

background, setting, environment, milieu, mise-en-scène mean the place, time, and circumstances in which something occurs. background often refers to the circumstances or events that precede a phenomenon or development.