raison d'etre
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.
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His theoretical death has therefore long been the HBO show’s raison d’etre, even if it became increasingly unthinkable over the course of its crisp but repetitive seasons.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2023
So they feel like it is their signature, their raison d’etre.
From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2023
It’s a good question, and one that cuts to the core of the new policy’s raison d’etre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
“We will flourish until our raison d’etre for being people’s lawyers ceases.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 15, 2022
Yet it is not solely upon the pleasure derived from them, that finger-plays depend for their raison d’etre.
From Finger plays for nursery and kindergarten by L. J. (Lewis Jesse) Bridgman
Privacy A VPN’s raison d’être: encrypting your traffic to mask your internet browsing from your ISP and prevent it from throttling your connection.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
It is also working to build the type of cutting-edge AI agents that some investors think threaten its entire raison d’être.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Fundamentally, the format's raison d'être is now under question.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025
I just saw James Mangold’s Bob Dylan-goes-electric history lesson “A Complete Unknown,” the music biopic that wears its subject’s impenetrable nature as its raison d’être.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2024
The raison d’être of the increased activity is obscure but it is possible that the salt renders the organisms more susceptible to the action of the germicide.
From Chlorination of Water by Joseph Race
