beau geste
PRONUNCIATION:
(bo ZHEST) 
plural beaux gestes (bo ZHEST)
MEANING:
noun: A gracious, but often meaningless, gesture. ETYMOLOGY:
From French, literally fine gesture. Earliest documented use: 1920. USAGE:
"An effective encore doesn't risk becoming an empty beau geste; it is an emotional p.s. somehow relating to the mood of the written program."Peter Dobrin; Applauding the Orchestra for Offering Encores; The Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania); Jan 15, 2011.
Explore "beau geste" in the Visual Thesaurus.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power -- he's free again. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (1918-2008)
