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roman à clef

noun
ro·​man à clef | \ rō-ˌmä(ⁿ)n-(ˌ)ä-ˈklā How to pronounce roman à clef (audio) \
plural romans à clef\ rō-​ˌmäⁿ-​(ˌ)zä-​ˈklā How to pronounce romans à clef (audio) \

Definition of roman à clef

: a novel in which real persons or actual events figure under disguise
Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about roman à clef

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Did You Know?

Unlock the fiction, open the door and see the very real people behind it, wrote Jeff Simon in The Buffalo News (March 19, 1998). That can be easily done when a roman à clef uses fictitious names to present thinly veiled depictions of well-known people or events. But what if only a few insiders know the real people or incidents? In the 1800s, such romans a clef sometimes included a key, a list matching fictional characters with their real-life counterparts, that helped readers recognize the players. Such keys made "roman a clef" (from a French phrase meaning "a novel with a key") an apt term for such works. Nowadays, there are no published keys in a roman à clef - merely veiled (or sometimes blatant) references that connect fact with fiction.

Examples of roman à clef in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

 Neither combatant is mentioned in the novel; this is no roman a clef with characters standing in for them. — Susan Page, USA TODAY, "Bill Clinton and James Patterson wonder if democracy can survive, in fact or fiction," 3 June 2018

First Known Use of roman à clef

1882, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for roman à clef

French, literally, novel with a key

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