charge d'affaires
2
9.0
- noun
- /ʃɑːrʒ dɛˈfɛr/
- Formal
:
encargado de negocios
- The notion of the existence of a causal relationship between Italian politics and economic structure emerges clearly in an 1848 letter of instructions by James Buchanan to Jacob L. Martin, who had just been appointed to the position of charge d'affaires to the Papal States.
- Lithuanian charge d'affaires
- U.S. charge d'affaires
- British charge d'affaires
Examples
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"At the same time, the British charge d'affaires in Moscow, William Strang, cabled to London on 30 September 1933: "Mr. Duranty thinks it quite possible that as many as ten million people may have died directly or indirectly from lack of food in the Soviet Union during the past year."
Academic text (1991) -
Not to change the subject, but we have a charge d'affaires in Canton.
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In 1946, George F. Kennan, American charge d'affaires to Moscow, cabled a telegram to President Truman, painting the Soviet Union as evil incarnate.
Academic text (2004) -
During the war, Harold Tittmann, Jr., a member of the consular staff at the Quirinale, was appointed the charge d'affaires of the Embassy to the Holy See and given the responsibility for carrying out the U.S. mission in the Italian capital.
Academic text (1996) -
Full-fledged U.S.-Vatican relations are only a decade old, although consuls, charges d'affaires, ministers-in-residence, and personal representatives had been dispatched to the papal states on occasion since 1797.
Academic text (1996) -
The charge d'affaires represented his country at the international summit in the ambassador's absence.
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During the ambassador's leave, the charge d'affaires took charge of all diplomatic meetings.
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The charge d'affaires addressed the media to explain the embassy's position during the crisis.
Surface Forms
Morphology
charge + d'affaires
The noun 'charge' (a person with responsibility) plus the literal idea of 'affairs' could lead learners to infer a meaning like 'person in charge of matters', so there is partial compositionality. However, 'd'affaires' is a French borrowing and the precise diplomatic sense 'temporary head of an embassy' is specialized and not fully predictable from the visible parts, so a B1 learner would only partially infer the meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun charge d'affaires comes from French and literally means charge, 'in charge', of affaires, 'affairs' or business. So it now means 'a diplomat who temporarily acts as head of an embassy'.