"Au courant" is rare but easily understood. Pick it when you want to sound fancy (or even snobbish) as you describe a person, place, or thing that seems to be totally in sync with whatever is currently hip, in fashion, or politically correct.

Talk about someone being au courant, or about someone keeping or staying au courant. You'll probably want to specify that someone is au courant of or with some topic or trend, as in "They're au courant with Internet slang." Or just describe people as au courant in general: "these au courant artists," "those au courant poets."

Or, talk about au courant places, such as au courant restaurants or neighborhoods; or au courant things, such as au courant words, phrases, trends, art, poetry, magazines, or films. 

As you'll notice in the two examples below, "au courant" is perfect for criticizing things and people who try too hard to be hip. I'm not suggesting you do that—it's not very nice—but if you're gonna, "au courant" works.

"The film's ostensible cultural satire is unfocused and excessively broad... Mr. Maggio's decision to turn the critic into a freelance food blogger makes little sense, given his supposed kingmaker status, but the director doubtless thought it ever so au courant."
  — Paul Brunick, New York Times, 14 October 2010

"Thanks in part to their use of au courant buzzwords like 'authenticity' and 'appropriation,' the 'Oberlin foodies' became national symbols of campus culture wars run amok."
   — Hua Hsa, The New Yorker, 31 December 2015

has this page helped you understand "au courant"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "au courant" without saying "well informed" or "very now."

try it out:

The historian Myra Gutin described the first lady Melania Trump as "someone who [is] very au courant with fashion and cultural trends."

Could you explain what that means? What kind of effort does it take to stay "au courant with fashion and cultural trends"? Imagining that you have the time and the money to live your own life this way, would you choose to do so? Why or why not?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Recapitate the Headlines."

I'll give you some real but decapitated headlines, along with a selection of heads, and you try to reassemble them as they were originally published. (Or, feel free to play in "wrong answers only" mode, assembling the headlines in whatever way you find funniest.) You can check out some examples here.

Try these today:

__________ dress as gorilla
__________ scare off wolves and save cattle
__________ shove baby turkey under coat as animals go missing from CA park

Dad slams 'woke' primary school for telling him not to
Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver fighting in 'Marriage Story' is being used by the USDA to
Video shows man

To see the correct versions, scroll all the way down.

review this term:

1. The opposite of AU COURANT could be

A. BEN TROVATO ("well found:" made up, but still appropriate).
B. TROGLODYTIC (having no idea what's going on in society, as if living in a cave).
C. ULTRACREPIDARIAN (annoying others by providing ignorant, unwanted criticism).

2. Knowing the meaning of "au courant," you can see why some _____ use "Courant" in their titles, indicating that they _____.

A. newspapers .. publish current events
B. historical dramas .. take plenty of poetic license
C. autobiographies .. don't take themselves too seriously

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. A From the game: Dad slams 'woke' primary school for telling him not to dress as gorilla Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver fighting in 'Marriage Story' is being used by the USDA to scare off wolves and save cattle Video shows man shove baby turkey under coat as animals go missing from CA park

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.