coup de grâce

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coup de grâce

/kuː də ɡɹɑs/
/kuː də ɡɹɑː/

Where it comes from

First use appears c. 1699. Borrowed from French coup de grâce (“finishing blow”). Originally referring to a merciful stroke putting a fatally wounded person out of misery or to the shot delivered to the head of a prisoner after facing a firing squad.

noun coups de grâce · coup de grace · coup-de-grace

A final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal. After we had row'd, or rather driven about a League and a Half, as we reckon'd it, a raging Wave, Mountain-like, came rolling a-ſtern of us, and plainly bad us expect the Coup-de-Grace.
broadly, figuratively A remarkable finishing action.

Translations

Every language

noun final blow

Español	golpe de gracia, tiro de gracia, puntilla
日本語	とどめ todome
中文	致命一擊 /致命一击 zhìmìngyījī
Português	golpe de misericórdia
Français	coup de grâce
Deutsch	Gnadenstoß, Gnadenschuss
Italiano	colpo di grazia
Ελληνικά	χαριστική βολή charistikí volí
Română	lovitură de grație
Русский	уда́р милосе́рдия udár milosérdija, после́дний уда́р poslédnij udár, смерте́льный уда́р smertélʹnyj udár

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MLA

"coup de grâce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/coup%20de%20gr%C3%A2ce. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

coup de grâce. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/coup%20de%20gr%C3%A2ce

Chicago

"coup de grâce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/coup%20de%20gr%C3%A2ce.

BibTeX

@misc{coup_de_gra_ce_2026,
  title = {coup de grâce},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/coup%20de%20gr%C3%A2ce},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}