Devoir

//dəˈvwɑː// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Duty, business; something that one must do. archaic, often, plural

    "[…] he imprint not so much in his schollers mind […] where Marcellus died, as because he was unworthy of his devoire he died there[…]."

  2. 2
    formal expression of respect wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
commitmentallegianceassignmentburdenbusinesscharge

Example

More examples

"Students get to work with instructors like Arnaud Le Rouzic, who trained at Les Compagnons du devoir, a prestigious French organization made up of craftsmen and artisans who learn skills dating from the Middle Ages."

Etymology

From Middle English devoir, borrowed from Middle French devoir, from Old French deveir, from Latin dēbēre (“to owe; ought, must”).

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