esprit de l'escalier

[es-pree duh le-skahl-yey]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

French.

a perfect comeback or witty remark that one frustratingly comes up with only when the moment for doing so has passed.
Writers, by nature, tend to be people in whom l' esprit de l'escalier is a recurrent experience.

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First recorded in 1905–10; literally, “wit of the staircase” (i.e., after one has left the gathering)

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