auteur

Borrowed from French auteur (“author”). Popularised by François Truffaut in the 1954 essay “Une certaine tendance du cinéma français” (“A certain tendency in French cinema”) in the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma as the phrase “la politique des Auteurs”. Doublet of author.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /oʊˈtɝ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈtɜː/, /əʊˈtɜː/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: au‧teur
• Homophone: hauteur

auteur (plural auteurs)

1. A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or preeminent ‘author’ of their works.
   • 1974 February 11, William Bender, “Call to vespers”, in Time:

     The libretto was a piece of hack work from a Parisian scenario factory run by an enterprising auteur of sorts named Eugene Scribe.

   • 2003 April 24, “Broadway is bigger than ever”, in The Economist‎^[1]:

     Since Mr Luhrmann first tackled the opera, he has entered the select circle of celebrity directors on the basis of only three films, including “Moulin Rouge”. And his “La Bohème”—designed by Mrs Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, a double Oscar-winner for “Moulin Rouge”—is avowedly the work of an auteur.

   • 2008, Rosanna Maule, Beyond Auteurism: New Directions in Authorial Film Practices in France, Italy and Spain Since the 1980s, Intellect Books, →ISBN, page 90:

     Ginette Vincendeau describes the cinéma du look as a typical example of ‘mainstream co-optation’ of ‘avant-garde, artisanal, or auteur’ cinema (1996: 14).

   • 2011 June 23, Jane Graham, “Terrence Malick to Woody Allen – the directors actors will kill to work for”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     If a widely respected auteur such as Martin Scorsese, Allen or Malick has given you the stamp of approval, you might not live fast or die young, but you'll leave a good-looking legacy.

   • 2025 May 10, Leila Abboud, “France awaits Depardieu verdict that will define state of MeToo movement”, in FT Weekend, page 3:

     The cult of the auteur has weakened, as symbolised by the reconsideration of rock star Bertrand Cantat, frontman of the band Noir Désir, who was convicted in 2004 of beating his girlfriend to death.

   • 2025 May 29, Alissa Wilkinson, “‘The Phoenician Scheme’ Review: Benicio Del Toro Plans to Save His Soul”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     That all of these screen luminaries apparently just popped to Anderson’s set for a day to film a tiny scene is indicative of where the auteur stands at this point in his 31-year career.

   • 2025 June 11, Ben Sisario, “Brian Wilson, Songwriter and Leader of the Beach Boys, Dies at 82”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN:

     At the same time, the round-faced, soft-spoken Mr. Wilson — who didn’t surf — became one of pop’s most gifted and idiosyncratic studio auteurs, crafting complex and innovative productions that awed his peers.

• author

auteur (third-person singular simple present auteurs, present participle auteuring, simple past and past participle auteured)

1. To work as an auteur.

• auteur on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• autheur (obsolete)

Borrowed from French auteur, from Middle French autheur, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, auctorem.

• IPA^(key): /ɑu̯ˈtøːr/, /oːˈtøːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: au‧teur
• Rhymes: -øːr

auteur m (plural auteurs, diminutive auteurtje n, feminine autrice)

1. author
2. composer, artist, creator of a work

• Afrikaans: outeur
• → West Frisian: auteur

Inherited from Middle French autheur, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from Proto-Italic *auktōr, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg-, from *h₂weg-.

• IPA^(key): /o.tœʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -œʁ

auteur m or f (plural auteurs, feminine autrice or auteure or (rare) auteuse or (rare, dated) authoress or auteuresse or auteuresse)

1. author
2. composer, artist
3. inventor (of discovery); perpetrator (of crime); leader (of rebellion etc.)

• coauteur
• droit d'auteur

• Mauritian Creole: oter
• → Dutch: auteur, autheur (obsolete)
  • Afrikaans: outeur
  • → West Frisian: auteur
• → English: auteur
• → Portuguese: auteur
• → Romanian: autor

• écrivain

• “auteur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from French auteur. Doublet of autor.

auteur m (plural auteurs)

1. auteur (creative artist)