IdiomDaily LifeFrench

À l'emporte-pièce

Meaning: Trenchant and uncompromising, of a remark or judgment.

Literally: Punch-cut

Example: “Ses jugements à l'emporte-pièce vexent souvent ses collègues.” — His blunt, sweeping judgments often offend his colleagues.

Origin: An emporte-pièce is the punch that stamps a shape cleanly out of leather or metal in a single stroke. A statement made that way leaves no ragged edge and no room for qualification.

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