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Synonyms

beau ideal

American  

noun

  • beaus ideal,
    plural
  • beaux ideal,
    plural
  • beau ideals
    plural
  1. a conception of perfect beauty.

  2. a model of excellence.


beau idéal British  
/ bo ideal /

noun

  1. perfect beauty or excellence

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of beau ideal

First recorded in 1795–1805, beau ideal is from French beau idéal literally, “ideal beauty.” See beau, ideal

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.

See Examples For:

It’s not surprising that Mr. Serrano found his way to Ms. Wilson, who, like Mr. Duncan, the author’s beau ideal of a player, “banks in beauty.”

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 21, 2025

Their friendship was the beau ideal of warrior comrades.

From Washington Post Jul. 8, 2022

His birthplace, Urbino, was also that of Raphael, the beau ideal to whom all painters aspired.

From The Guardian Feb. 16, 2013

Arsenal's manager, Arsene Wenger, is one of soccer's great self-dooming visionaries, a gaunt Frenchman who'd rather lose matches than sacrifice his beau ideal of how to play the game.

From Slate Apr. 14, 2011

Esau considered it just the beau ideal of a trout stream, for any fish hooked in it gave a lot of trouble before he was safe in the bag.

From Three in Norway by Two of Them by Clutterbuck, Walter J.

Will’s beau idéal, Ronald Reagan, used it frequently on the rubber-chicken-and-peas circuit.

From Salon Dec. 20, 2025

It dominated the public discussion, especially among young English economists in training, for whom the brilliant, dashing, socially connected Keynes was a beau idéal.

From The Guardian Aug. 18, 2017

The road was narrow and winding, the very beau idéal of a highway; for, in this particular, the general rule obtains that what is agreeable is the least useful.

From Recollections of Europe by Cooper, James Fenimore

Surely not without reason, when pirates, highwaymen, and other varieties of the extensive genus Marauder, are the only beau idéal of the active, as splenetic and railing misanthropy is of the speculative energy.

From Nightmare Abbey by Peacock, Thomas Love

Mr. McCulloch, who succeeded Mr. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury, was my beau idéal of an administrator.

From The Reminiscences of an Astronomer by Newcomb, Simon

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