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cartonner

to be a smash hit

verb kar-toh-NEH Rare
Arts & Culture Performance

Also means

to pack into boxes

Usage Note

Cartonner has two distinct uses: in colloquial French it means to be wildly successful (a song, a film, or a person 'cartonne' when it's a hit), and literally it means to pack things into cardboard boxes. The slang sense is the more frequent one in contemporary spoken French. Carton means both 'cardboard box' and, colloquially, a hit.

Examples

"Son dernier album cartonne en ce moment."

Natural Translation

His latest album is a smash hit right now.

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