louche
/luːʃ
/adjective
Disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way: the louche world of the theatre...
- If you can't dance, stand at the bar and look louche.
- He made no apologies for his rackety lifestyle, his liking for louche and even sleazy companions, his lavish consumption of cigars, brandy and champagne.
- Lounge lizards will welcome this louche downtown bar boasting one of North America's largest vodka selections not to mention world-class wines.
Derivatives
loucheness
- Ray's writing has the same exoticism, the same intellectual loucheness.
- This is probably the coolest film ever made: its quality of loucheness is unsurpassed.
- But if Byron was celebrated for his amorality and loucheness, so was the city he surveyed that drizzly November afternoon.
Origin
Early 19th century: from French, literally 'squinting'.