belle

Doctors talk about la belle indifférence, a state of reality-denying serenity that some patients enter while experiencing serious medical symptoms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Once the press gets wind that Mary’s marriage has ended, the gossip is relentless, and the one-time belle of the ball can’t rustle up so much as a small tea party.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2025

Many of them were built in the early 20th century - grand belle epoque palaces serving a then emerging class of privileged, primarily English tourists.

From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2025

An hour later in a slightly sweaty hotel ballroom bedecked with “Unionize California” signs, Friedman was being treated like the belle of the ball at the California Labor Federation’s annual awards dinner.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2024

One customer, a Southern belle in her sixties, had called Zeitoun Painting and had been happy to talk with Kathy, with her chatty demeanor and familiar accent.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

In 1989, Parton returned to the big screen in Herbert Ross’ “Steel Magnolias,” in which her straight-talking small-town salon owner, Truvy Jones, was the firm-hold hairspray uniting an unforgettable array of Southern belles.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

Now, thanks to how fast AI is changing, they are the belles of the ball.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

If the pure plays are the current belles of the ball, IBM could be the long-term keeper for investors.

From Barron's ● Dec. 10, 2025

Tabitha Pritts, described by the local newspaper as “one of the most popular belles of the Nooksack Valley,” caught his eye, and he hers.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2023

I just kept walking across the huge room until below me was a pile of hay belles.

From "Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key" by Jack Gantos