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Webster 1913 Edition

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Adj.

[F., hitherto, formerly.]

Former; previous; of times gone by;

as, a

ci-devant

governor

ci-devant ‎(not comparable)

Former, late; formerly.
- 1952, Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Empire (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part I: “The General”, chapter 1: ‘Search for Magicians’, page 10, ¶ 4
  The old patrician retreated noiselessly with a slow bow that was part of the ceremonious legacy left by a ci-devant aristocracy of the last century’s better days.
- 2006, Marsha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried, Pimlico 2007, p. 157:
  During art collecting tours in Italy, Townley worked with the eccentric scholar Baron d'Hancarville (ci-devant Pierre Françoise Hughes), a specialist in pornographic art [...].

ci-devant m, f ‎(plural ci-devant)