Bonhomie

//ˈbɒnəmiː// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A friendly, good-natured, pleasant manner; an affable and approachable disposition; friendliness. uncountable, usually

    "His ungainly person and awkward manners were against him with men accustomed to the graces of society, and he was not sufficiently at home to give play to his humor and to that bonhomie which won the hearts of all who knew him."

  2. 2
    a disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to) wordnet
  3. 3
    An atmosphere of friendliness and good cheer. uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    A cheerful remark. countable, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms
affabilityaffabilityamiabilityfriendlinessgenialityaffableness

Example

More examples

"Traditionally, G-20 summits are staid affairs and despite the fact consensus on trade, development and climate issues regularly eludes the gatherings, at least efforts are made to conjure up formal bonhomie."

Etymology

PIE word *dʰéǵʰōm Borrowed from French bonhomie, bonhommie (“good-heartedness; extreme credulity”), from bonhomme (“chap, fellow; courageous man; peasant; unwise man who allows himself to be deceived and dominated”) (from bon (“good”) + homme (“man”)) + -ie (suffix forming feminine, usually abstract, nouns).

Related phrases

good heartednessgood natured

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.