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
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.
Mathabane was mesmerised by the image and its cover line "The Icy Elegance of Arthur Ashe" - and he set out to emulate him.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2025
“Elegance is learned my friends. Elegance is learned, oh yeah,” the lyrics of her song preach.
From Salon • Jul. 22, 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
Elegance gave me a great gift and a wonderful character that we don’t get to see often, the way that these two men find each other and learn from one another.
From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2023
Elegance is a small price to pay for enlightenment, and I was glad to pay it.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
