Jean Baptiste Racine
- proper noun
- Many of Jean Baptiste Racine's plays are considered masterpieces of French classical tragedy.
Examples
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Students often study Jean Baptiste Racine when learning about 17th-century French literature.
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The influence of Jean Baptiste Racine can be seen in later European drama.
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The works of Jean Baptiste Racine are still studied today.
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Did you read anything by Jean Baptiste Racine in school?
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Many of Jean Baptiste Racine's plays are considered masterpieces of French classical tragedy.
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Students often study Jean Baptiste Racine when learning about 17th-century French literature.
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The influence of Jean Baptiste Racine can be seen in later European drama.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A French playwright from the 1600s known for tragic plays based on Greek and Roman stories
1
9.5
A French writer of plays in the 1600s who wrote tragic stories about strong feelings
Surface Forms
Morphology
Jean + Baptiste + Racine
This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; the individual components are given names/surname and do not compose a meaning like a verb phrase or idiom. A B1 learner who knows the constituent names might infer French origin but cannot derive that the referent is a 17th‑century playwright and poet from the parts alone. Therefore the lexical meaning (the biographical identity) is not predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Jean Baptiste Racine was a famous French writer of the 1600s who turned old Greek and Roman myths into short, powerful plays. Imagine him writing by candlelight about proud heroes ruined by fate, so his name is linked to 'tragedy' in French literature.