Definition of "longueur" [longueur]

• A tedious passage in a work of literature or performing art: "longueurs and passages of meretricious vulgarity” ( Stephen Schiff). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Martina Hingis, welcoming Sharapova's return to form after a disturbing longueur, described her this week as "a great competitor, so strong in the mind"."
• "He furnishes handholds and issues both exhortations and admonitions: Readers are told, in effect, that there will be passages of extreme difficulty and complexity (and of plain longueur), but they are simultaneously assured that the effort will be rewarding and worthwhile."
• "PointBlog: ça traîne en longueur, et Ginisty aux abonnés absents"