fougue (fogue) /FOOG/. noun. Ardour; impetousness; passion. From French fougue, same meaning. From Latin fuga (flight, fleeing).
“‘Yes, she does have something of that fougue,’ Andrei Antonovich muttered, not without pleasure, at the same time regretting terribly that this ignoramus should dare to express himself quite so freely about Yulia Mikhailovna…” (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
“Thus Sforza, cursed with a too fertile brain,
Lost by his wiles the power his wit did gain.
Henceforth their fougue must spend at lesser rate,
Than in its flames to wrap a nation’s fate.”
(John Dryden)
“The conscious agility, fougue, and precision which fill the performer become contagious and delight the spectator as well.” (George Santayana)
“About six weeks, however, after his mother’s death, Coryston’s natural fougue suggested to him that he was being trifled with.” (Mrs. Humphry Ward)
“On the extravagant Gothic fougue and fury of our native stage, characterised by its bad artistic form, and tumid, fantastic diction, classical influence of the right kind was purely salutary—granting, of course, the presence of original genius…” (Thomas Otway)
Elsewhere: Wordnik.
Select Synonyms: ardor, fervor, zest, zeal.