beauty
Americannoun
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the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
- Synonyms:
- allure, attractiveness, pulchritude
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a beautiful person, especially a woman.
- Synonyms:
- belle
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treatments and products that enhance a person’s physical attractiveness, or the industry associated with this.
She left her career in business administration to pursue her passion in beauty and wellness.
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a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.
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Often beauties. a beautiful feature or trait in nature or in some natural or artificial environment.
the rugged beauties of our seashore and mountains.
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an individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm.
a vivid blue area that is the one real beauty of the painting.
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Informal. a particular advantage.
One of the beauties of this medicine is the freedom from aftereffects.
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(often used ironically) someone or something that is extraordinary, remarkable, or amazing; a beaut.
That sunburn is a real beauty!
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something excellent of its kind.
My old car, now she was a beauty.
adjective
noun
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the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind
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a very attractive and well-formed girl or woman
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informal an outstanding example of its kind
the horse is a beauty
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informal an advantageous feature
one beauty of the job is the short hours
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informal a light-hearted and affectionate term of address
hello, my old beauty!
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of beauty
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English be(a)ute, from Old French beaute; replacing Middle English bealte, from Old French beltet, from unattested Vulgar Latin bellitāt- (stem of unattested bellitās ), equivalent to Latin bell(us) “fine” + -itāt- noun suffix; see -ity
Explanation
Ah, beauty. Anything that has it pleases the senses, like a delicious scent, a perfect piece of pie, or a gorgeous person walking by. A noun describing an incredibly pleasing or harmonious quality or feature, beauty is hard to describe. Sure, super models and classical paintings exhibit beauty. But so do well designed sports cars and perfectly executed soccer goals. Belle found beauty in the Beast, astrologers find beauty in the stars, and arachnologists find beauty in giant hairy spiders. So that's why many people say that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Performances "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" Friday at 11:30, Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 and 1, Thursday at 10 and 11:30, through April 11.
From Washington Post • Mar. 12, 2010
BEAUTY, truth, and rarity, Grace in all simplicity, Here enclosed in cinders lie.
From Bulchevy's Book of English Verse by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
O BEAUTY, find thyself in love, not in the flattery of thy mirror.
From Stray Birds by Tagore, Rabindranath
The French writer, Jean Reibrach, in one of his novels, NEW BEAUTY, attempts to picture the ideal, beautiful, emancipated woman.
From Anarchism and Other Essays by Goldman, Emma
The term by which we express the influence which objects, by means of their relations, possess of exciting emotions of pleasure in the mind, is BEAUTY.
From Beauty Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classificatin of Beauty in Woman by Walker, Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
