milieu
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmiːljɜː/
ipa: /mɪlˈjɜː/
ipa: /-ˈju/
ipa: /-ˈjʊ/
ipa: /mɪlˈju/
ipa: /-ˈjʊ/
rhymes: -uː
Forms: form: milieux
form: milieus
Etymology: PIE word
 *me
Borrowed from French milieu (“physical or social environment; group of people with a common point of view”), from Middle French milieu, meilleu, mileu, from Old French milliu, meillieu, mileu (“middle”), from mi- (prefix meaning ‘half’) (from Latin medius (“half; middle”)) + lieu, leu (“place”) (from Latin locus (“place; spot (specific location)”)).
Senses: examples: text: Australian cinema is a messy affair. It is a messiness not only in our ways of knowing, reading, consuming and producing films and the larger film-making milieu of which they are a part, but also a messiness among the films themselves […]
ref: 1996, Tom O’Regan, “Introducing Australian Cinema”, in Australian National Cinema (National Cinemas Series), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2:
text: In the electronic milieu, accuracy is accomplished by the technology, and the appropriate strategy for judgment is likely to entail ensuring coherence within and across electronic and naturalistic components of the ecology.
ref: 2013, Kathleen L. Mosier, “Judgment and Prediction”, in John D. Lee, Alex Kirlik, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Engineering (Oxford Library of Psychology), Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Cognition in Engineered Systems), page 70, column 1:
text: The library as solely a physical space will not survive in the digital milieu. Services should be directed towards user needs and desires in the current academic climate.
ref: 2013, Brendan Ryan, “Preface”, in Optimizing Academic Library Services in the Digital Milieu: Digital Devices and Their Emerging Trends (Chandos Information Professional Series), Witney, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, Woodhead Publishing, →ISBN, page xiii:
text: The question is, then, what is the relationship of biblical narrative to its literary milieu? […] One must simultaneously biblical narrative in light of its clear historical connections to its literary milieu, while carefully analyzing the profound differences separating it from its milieu as well.
ref: 2016, Robert S. Kawashima, “Biblical Narrative and the Birth of Prose Literature”, in Danna Nolan Fewell, editor, The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 52:
glosses: An environment or setting; a medium; environs
examples: text: The distinction between the constituents in, and the conditions of, the integral life-career of person is well brought out in contrasting the attitudes of attention which persons normally develop with the milieux or social media which serve as the theater for their exercise. […] The assertive attitude of challenge finds its milieux in the domains of sport, art, exercise, industry, etc., to which the conception of gestalt may well be extended.
ref: 1927 July, Percy Hughes, “The Biotic Center of Psychology”, in The Center, Function and Structure of Psychology (Lehigh University Publication; vol. 1, no. 6; Institute of Research; circular no. 9; Studies in the Humanities; no. 3), Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University, →OCLC, page 13:
text: Confronted by the multiplicity of the milieus that could influence curriculum activity, we need some way of deciding not only what kinds of milieus should claim our attention, but also what kinds of knowledge about them we should attend to.
ref: 1992, William A[rbuckle] Reid, “The Commonplace of the Milieus”, in Arthur Woodward, Ian Westbury, editors, The Pursuit of Curriculum: Schooling and the Public Interest (Issues in Curriculum Theory, Policy, and Research), Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 132:
text: The unmistakable directness and violence of Jesus' action shows it to have been undertaken and executed precisely as if the milieu were indeed not there to be counted. Here again is the character of action taken in the very face of the milieu without taking any notice of it. In any event, the one certainty is that the Roman milieu, so entirely ignored by his teaching, here came conclusively to touch upon it, putting Jesus to an end.
ref: 1995, J[ames] T. Dillon, “Circumstance of Teaching”, in Jesus as a Teacher: A Multidisciplinary Case Study, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock Publishers, published 20 June 2005, →ISBN, page 28:
text: Certain milieus are described as cosmopolitan. Typically these are artistic, intellectual and bohemian milieus, but also the world of international business and high finance, and some mafias and underworlds.
ref: 1999, Sami Zubaida, “Cosmopolitanism and the Middle East”, in Roel Meijer, editor, Cosmopolitanism, Identity and Authenticity in the Middle East, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2013, →ISBN, part I (Cosmopolitanism in the Middle East), page 16:
text: The vast majority of our intensive child and adolescent treatment milieus operate within an adult-centric model, wherein staff play the central role in developing, instilling and enforcing the culture; a model that places virtually all power and authority in the hands of the supervising adults.
ref: 2018, John [Neal] Stewart, “Special Strategies and Considerations for Milieu-based Attachment-focused Treatment”, in Attachment-Based Milieus for Healing Child and Adolescent Developmental Trauma: A Relational Approach for Use in Settings from Inpatient Psychiatry to Special Education Classrooms, London; Philadelphia, Pa.: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, section II (Supporting Healing Attachments in the Treatment Milieu), page 199:
text: [F]rom the perspective of traditional linguistic landscapes thought, such an overwhelmingly English landscape would normally be considered to exert a negative effect on the vitality and feelings of worth of other languages within this specific multilingual milieu.
ref: 2019 May 5 (online), Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, London: Routledge, published 2020, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 567–580:
glosses: A social environment or setting.
examples: text: It's not easy to find someone whom one has mislaid for years in London, particularly if she belongs to the sort of milieu that Anna belonged to, but clearly the first thing to do is look in the telephone book.
ref: 1954, Iris Murdoch, chapter 2, in Under the Net […], London: The Reprint Society, published 1955, →OCLC, page 35:
glosses: A group of people with a common point of view; a social class or group.
Derived terms: micromilieu
milieu control
milieu therapy