How to Use enfant terrible in a Sentence

enfant terrible

noun
  • Read on for a look back over the year’s cream of the crop… and its enfants terribles.
    — Tyler Aquilina, EW.com, 23 Dec. 2019
  • For years, he was known as an enfant terrible; now he’s matured.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 16 May 2026
  • His style earned him the title of the German opera world’s enfant terrible.
    — New York Times, 9 Feb. 2022
  • Here is a director who gets off on being an enfant terrible even at 55 years old.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 May 2026
  • Halston’s enfant terrible act is starting to wear thin on everyone around him.
    — Shannon Carlin, refinery29.com, 17 May 2021
  • But the provocateur-in-chief is now too established to still be considered an enfant terrible.
    — Patrick Frater, Variety, 3 July 2024
  • Which means the former enfant terrible has now been enshrined as a member of the Establishment.
    — Nate Jones, Vulture, 20 Mar. 2026
  • But any curatorial choice that gives us fewer immersive rooms and preening enfants terribles doesn’t seem so bad to me.
    — Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 May 2024
  • There was a time when the undisputed enfant terrible of the couture was Jean Paul Gaultier.
    — Kristen Bateman, Town & Country, 9 July 2021
  • The onetime enfant terrible, now a 50-year-old whose best work was behind him, reached inside to create his masterpiece.
    — Gary Kamiya, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 Mar. 2021
  • For Serre to obliquely reference Parisian fashion’s enfant terrible makes sense—even if her new print takes its name from aquatic life.
    — Steff Yotka, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2020
  • The look is a combination of two previous designs by the enfant terrible of French fashion.
    — Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 24 June 2024
  • And yet this was no return to his early East Village enfant terrible days, when Chang punched hole after hole in the kitchen walls.
    — Alex Bhattacharji, WSJ, 2 Nov. 2018
  • At 11 years and change, the enfant terrible is already sporting the hunchback and hook nose, and dreaming of world domination.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 13 June 2022
  • Now, fashion’s enfant terrible returns to the ever-versatile seating, this time for a bold new outdoor edition that debuts just in time for the warmer months.
    — Helena Madden, ELLE Decor, 11 Mar. 2022
  • Check in with the enduring enfant terrible of American fiction.
    — Sophie Kemp, Vogue, 30 Dec. 2019
  • Julius Malema, the enfant terrible of South African politics, vows that his enemies have nowhere to hide.
    — Erin Conway-Smith, Foreign Affairs, 7 May 2019
  • Dalle has long been the enfant terrible of French cinema, as well as one if its most chic representatives at worldwide film festivals.
    — Vogue, 20 May 2019
  • For over a decade, Grimes delighted the public with hilariously dilettante and enfant terrible press bits.
    — Alexandra Bregman, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024
  • Sure, Gaultier was nicknamed the enfant terrible of fashion in his early days, so provocation is part of the brand’s vernacular.
    — José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 14 Mar. 2026
  • Once, the enfant terrible of the White Stripes had routinely denounced computers for their deadening effects on rock.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 9 June 2022
  • Margaret, four years younger than her sister, was the enfant terrible, charming, witty and outrageous, with a strong competitive streak and need for attention.
    — Moira Hodgson, WSJ, 25 Mar. 2021
  • After rave reviews but slow sales, Lollapalooza kick-started the career of enfant terrible de la Rocha and his band of merry muckrakers.
    — Katherine Turman, SPIN, 26 Feb. 2022
  • Von Trier’s willingness to play the enfant terrible was a big part of his early legend, but so was his almost preternatural assurance with a camera.
    — Adam Nayman, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2022
  • Well, my editor, Judith Regan, was the enfant terrible of publishing in the ‘90s.
    — Mathew Rodriguez, Them, 9 Dec. 2024
  • Of course, the enfant terrible himself also made a cameo on Place Vendôme to dress Aya Nakamura for her opening number yesterday.
    — Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 24 June 2024
  • Once an enfant terrible, Emin was known during the ’90s for sculptures and performances that explored the emotional toll of erotic encounters.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Joel was the radical; Richard, the lover; Giles, the organizer; Jimmy, the enfant terrible; and Doug, the cipher.
    — Hugh Ryan, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 June 2021
  • By 1980, Claude Montana was known both as an enfant terrible and for his almost monastic adherence to the principles of apparel design.
    — Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024
  • Likewise, David Chang, who has transitioned from the food world’s enfant terrible to one of its elder statesmen, is openly addressing the mental and physical pressures of his industry.
    — Kristina O’Neill, WSJ, 8 Nov. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'enfant terrible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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