canaille

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He knew nothing of that silent middle class that struggled between genteel poverty and the impossible desire of emulating the golden canaille to which he himself belonged.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

The canaille that had crouched for a century seemed in some unaccountable way to be changing its posture!

From The Red Cockade by Weyman, Stanley John

He had with him as his chamber-moor his long, lean dispenser, who in the adjoining drinking-room encountered the very short dispenser of the second apothecary's-shop, or shop of the canaille.

From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. I. A Biography by Jean Paul

Even if he did not feel the desire to attend formal services, he seemed, like Voltaire, to feel that they were salutary, if only to furnish the canaille with the will to obey authority.

From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Jorgenson, Chester E.

Mon cher,' said the other, 'you and I were once gentlemen—we talked, ate, drank, and dressed as such; we have now the canaille life, and the past is scarcely even a dream.'

From Gerald Fitzgerald The Chevalier by Lever, Charles James