TETE-A-TETE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tete-a-tete mean? 

• TETE-A-TETE (noun)
  The noun TETE-A-TETE has 2 senses:

1. a private conversation between two people

2. small sofa that seats two people

  Familiarity information: TETE-A-TETE used as a noun is rare.

• TETE-A-TETE (adjective)
  The adjective TETE-A-TETE has 1 sense:

1. involving two persons; intimately private

  Familiarity information: TETE-A-TETE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TETE-A-TETE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A private conversation between two people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("tete-a-tete" is a kind of...):

conversation (the use of speech for informal exchange of views or ideas or information etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tete-a-tete"):

pillow talk (intimate conversation between lovers (typically occurring in bed))

Derivation:

tete-a-tete (involving two persons; intimately private)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small sofa that seats two people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

love seat; loveseat; tete-a-tete; vis-a-vis

Hypernyms ("tete-a-tete" is a kind of...):

couch; lounge; sofa (an upholstered seat for more than one person)

Derivation:

tete-a-tete (involving two persons; intimately private)

• TETE-A-TETE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Involving two persons; intimately private

Synonyms:

head-to-head; tete-a-tete

Context example:

a head-to-head conversation

Similar:

private (confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy)

Derivation:

tete-a-tete (small sofa that seats two people)

tete-a-tete (a private conversation between two people)

 Context examples 

Yet time and her aunt moved slowly—and her patience and her ideas were nearly worn out before the tete-a-tete was over.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It was an odd tete-a-tete; but she was glad to see it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Edward was allowed to retain the privilege of first comer, and Colonel Brandon therefore walked every night to his old quarters at the Park; from whence he usually returned in the morning, early enough to interrupt the lovers' first tete-a-tete before breakfast.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

A call at Meg's, and a refreshing sniff and sip at the Daisy and Demijohn, still further fortified her for the tete-a-tete, but when she saw a stalwart figure looming in the distance, she had a strong desire to turn about and run away.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A very short visit to Mrs. Allen, in which Henry talked at random, without sense or connection, and Catherine, rapt in the contemplation of her own unutterable happiness, scarcely opened her lips, dismissed them to the ecstasies of another tete-a-tete; and before it was suffered to close, she was enabled to judge how far he was sanctioned by parental authority in his present application.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It reminded her of their first forlorn tete-a-tete, on the evening of Mrs. Weston's wedding-day; but Mr. Knightley had walked in then, soon after tea, and dissipated every melancholy fancy.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

If you are not so compassionate as to dine to-day with Louisa and me, we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives, for a whole day's tete-a-tete between two women can never end without a quarrel.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The consequence was, that Elinor set out by herself to pay a visit, for which no one could really have less inclination, and to run the risk of a tete-a-tete with a woman, whom neither of the others had so much reason to dislike.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She wrote to her, therefore, kindly, but decisively, to beg that she would not, at present, come to Hartfield; acknowledging it to be her conviction, that all farther confidential discussion of one topic had better be avoided; and hoping, that if a few days were allowed to pass before they met again, except in the company of others—she objected only to a tete-a-tete—they might be able to act as if they had forgotten the conversation of yesterday.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The tete-a-tete surprised them.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)