‖ arrière-pensée
(arjɛrpɑ̃se)
[Fr., = ‘behind-thought’.]
A concealed thought or intention.
| 1824 Lady Morgan Salvator Rosa I. vi. 300 Such drear and fearful aspects of nature, mingled with such views of society, concealed an ‘arrière pensée’. 1884 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 246 He knew that I had guessed his arrière-pensée. 1900 H. B. Forman Compl. Wks. Keats I. 106 The meaning [of ‘rest’] here is probably merely inactivity, without the recuperative arrière-pensée. |