noun
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dignified grace in appearance, movement, or behaviour
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good taste in design, style, arrangement, etc
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something elegant; a refinement
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of elegance
1500–10; < Middle French < Latin ēlegantia choiceness. See elegant, -ance
Explanation
Elegance is a quality of style and grace. In our age of jeans and sneakers, the elegance of actresses on the red carpet on Oscar night is such a welcome sight. It comes from the Latin elegantia, "taste, propriety, or refinement." Fashion designer and eternal fashion icon Coco Chanel famously said, "Elegance is refusal," meaning it's best to skip the big jewelry and flashy clothes in favor of simple styles made from luxurious fabrics that one could wear forever — and look great every time. Elegance also describes the beautiful simplicity of a solution, such as an elegant mathematical proof.
Vocabulary lists containing elegance
Our Town
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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"Novio Boy: Scene 7, Part 1" and "Oranges"
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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.
"Elegance is learned my friends. Elegance is learned, oh yeah," the lyrics of her song preach.
From Salon • Jul. 22, 2023
"You could see it coming. Elegance was never his forte," someone close to the top said.
From BBC • Mar. 8, 2023
"Elegance is the mixture of opulence with restraint," Gordon said, citing inspiration from Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who is featured in the 2022 Netflix series "The Empress" and the movie "Corsage."
From Reuters • Feb. 13, 2023
At a Tribeca Film Festival party in 2018, Raúl Castillo met the filmmaker Elegance Bratton and gave him his number.
From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2023
Elegance is often a reliable guide to the usefulness of a model, but not an infallible one.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
