a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character.
the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their liking.
a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode of action or manner of acting.
They do these things in a grand style.
a mode of living, as with respect to expense or display.
an elegant, fashionable, or luxurious mode of living.
to live in style.
a mode of fashion, as in dress, especially good or approved fashion; elegance; smartness.
the mode of expressing thought in writing or speaking by selecting and arranging words, considered with respect to clearness, effectiveness, euphony, or the like, that is characteristic of a group, period, person, personality, etc..
to write in the style of Faulkner; a familiar style; a pompous, pedantic style.
those components or features of a literary composition that have to do with the form of expression rather than the content of the thought expressed.
His writing is all style and no substance.
manner or tone adopted in discourse or conversation.
a patronizing style of addressing others.
a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode or form of construction or execution in any art or work.
Her painting is beginning to show a personal style.
a descriptive or distinguishing appellation, especially a legal, official, or recognized title.
a firm trading under the style of Smith, Jones, & Co.
the gnomon of a sundial.
a method of reckoning time.
Zoology. a small, pointed process or part.
Botany. a narrow, usually cylindrical and more or less filiform extension of the pistil, which, when present, bears the stigma at its apex.
the rules or customs of typography, punctuation, spelling, and related matters used by a newspaper, magazine, publishing house, etc., or in a specific publication.
to call by a given title or appellation; denominate; name; call.
The pope is styled His or Your Holiness.
to design or arrange in accordance with a given or new style.
to style an evening dress; to style one's hair.
to bring into conformity with a specific style or give a specific style to.
Please style this manuscript.
go out of style, to become unfashionable.
The jacket he's wearing went out of style ten years ago.
in style, fashionable.
a form of appearance, design, or production; type or make
a new style of house
the way in which something is done
good or bad style
the manner in which something is expressed or performed, considered as separate from its intrinsic content, meaning, etc
a distinctive, formal, or characteristic manner of expression in words, music, painting, etc
elegance or refinement of manners, dress, etc
prevailing fashion in dress, looks, etc
a fashionable or ostentatious mode of existence
to live in style
the particular mode of orthography, punctuation, design, etc, followed in a book, journal, etc, or in a printing or publishing house
the distinguishing title or form of address of a person or firm
botany the stalk of a carpel, bearing the stigma
zoology a slender pointed structure, such as the piercing mouthparts of certain insects
a method of expressing or calculating dates See Old Style New Style
another word for stylus
the arm of a sundial
to design, shape, or tailor
to style hair
to adapt or make suitable (for)
to make consistent or correct according to a printing or publishing style
to name or call; designate
to style a man a fool
(intr) to decorate objects using a style or stylus
The slender part of a flower pistil, connecting the ovary and the stigma. The pollen tube grows through the style delivering the pollen nuclei to the ovary.
See more at flower pollination
See fashion.
First recorded in 1350–1400; (noun) Middle English, from Latin stylus, spelling variant, mistakenly associated with Greek stŷlos “pillar, column,” of stilus “tool for writing,” hence, “written composition, style”; see stylus; (verb) from the noun, first recorded in 1560–80
< Greek stŷlos column or -stȳlos -columned, adj. derivative of stŷlos
Artists, musicians, and even chefs have their own personal style — a word used to describe the unique ways in which people express themselves. Style is a word that's often used to describe the distinctive way in which artists, designers, and other creative types practice their crafts. The designer who launches a line of cardboard bathing suits is expressing his style, even if no one else finds these soggy suits stylish, or in fashion, at the moment. When hyphenated, style can describe the qualities of a person or thing, as in "Cajun-style cooking."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The nonlinear nature of Homer’s epic poem lends itself to his style.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
Guizio brings New York style to the streets of L.A. this summer with the opening of its first L.A. flagship store.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
McCullum was known for promoting an aggressive form of cricket, dubbed Bazball by fans and the media, but Vaughan said Fleming will have to make changes to England's style and technique.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Some of the disappointment, to be sure, is simply markets trying to get used to the very different style of Warsh compared to predecessors Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and Jerome Powell.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
We’d watch the greats and talk about their style, technique, and interpretation.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Led by a Barcelona -style Lionel Messi, Argentina players appear convinced they will put an end to a 28-year title drought.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 9, 2021
Makan Delrahim, the new antitrust chief, inherited an Obama Justice Department staff leaning toward approving the deal with heavy Comcast -style conditions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2018
The Treasury is hoping to encourage a wave of -style businesses by launching a consultation on £50m worth of tax breaks for employee-owned companies.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 3, 2013
Once executives prove themselves in a given area—say, software engineering—they rarely go through -style development programs to get exposure to a business’s full breadth.
From BusinessWeek ● Sep. 29, 2011
Beastly, another attempt at a -style teen-romance franchise, was third with $10.1 million, a bit above expectations.
From Time ● Mar. 29, 2011
Reformation produces new styles in small quantities and tests them twice a week on its website and once a week in its stores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
However, while she says people with insecure attachment styles should be viewed with more empathy, she acknowledges the importance of self-awareness.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
More precise dates could help researchers determine which paintings were created during the same period, how artistic styles changed, and whether generations of people repeatedly returned to particular caves.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
The final product in “Remake” is a combination of the two styles, with the loving squabble between a father and his son left in the middle.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
The earliest Yayoi sites on Kyushu contained pots both in the new Yayoi styles and in the old Jomon styles, but the latter dropped out as Yayoi culture and pottery spread north through Honshu.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Getting your hair washed, cut and styled, though, will take a lot more time.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Although it is not trimmed with spring green, as with the first dress Mary ever commissioned for herself, Bruccoleri confirmed that she had styled herself that day.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
Speaking at the investor event Monday, CEO Alan Baratz styled the funding as an affirmation of D-Wave’s dual-track approach to quantum.
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
He was styled by Prinz Innovation to represent his on-screen persona of wealthy and stylish.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
At dinner, which begins promptly at midnight, each course is styled in black or white but bursts with color once pierced with forks or spoons, revealing layer upon layer of flavors.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
It's true that for years he has tried publicly to stay out of Labour internal wrangling, styling himself as a loyalist – which didn't always go down well.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
He made Danson’s Sam Malone and Long’s Diane Chambers part of our cultural lexicon by styling them as the ultimate will-they-or-won’t-they couple.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026
Rackspace separately plans to cut 15% of its global staff, the company said, styling the “workforce realignment” as part of its pivot toward becoming a managed enterprise AI provider.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
I typically don’t vent on styling, on the grounds that everything has to look like something.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
We sit in the styling chairs and watch it when business is slow, which isn't really that often.
From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon
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.
