Unable to fully realise one's ambitions; would-be(adjective)
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Use "manqué" in a sentence
"The gluten-free wassen-manque is fine if somewhat bland."
"I conceived of Duncan as a kind of academic manque - if his particular field of interest had been Conrad or Gerard Manley Hopkins or someone, he'd be gainfully employed in a university."
"He wrote the screenplay for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry – but says it was rewritten by star Adam Sandler; that had to sting – and produced the effervescent Ed Helms comedy Cedar Rapids, a Payne movie manque."