tasteful
Americanadjective
adjective
-
indicating good taste
a tasteful design
-
a rare word for tasty
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tasteful
Explanation
Tasteful things are elegant, appropriate, or aesthetically pleasing. You may prefer to hang a single, tasteful holiday wreath on your door — while your neighbor decorates with a somewhat less tasteful 12-foot inflatable Santa surrounded by hot pink reindeer. If you've got good manners, your behavior is tasteful. Having an eye for clothing and decor that's lovely (rather than tacky, ugly or disturbing in some way) is tasteful too. This adjective started came into use in the 17th century. It originally meant "tasting good" but it evolved to mean "having good taste."
Vocabulary lists containing tasteful
What If It's Us
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Honestly Elliott
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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.
Tasteful and deceptively simple designs graced the Lemaire runway in a sublime collection.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 19, 2022
Tasteful coffee table books adorned the gleaming slab of marble in front of us, but the house buzzed with domestic life.
From New York Times • Sep. 8, 2021
Tasteful, mostly acoustic arrangements straight out of a Renaissance Pleasure Faire often are grandiose in scale, cranking up to 11 only on their electrified version of Swedish rock band Rednex’s “Wish You Were Here.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 23, 2017
"Its location is rather uncool. Still - it is very, very Caruso St Johnny. Lovely staircase. Nice brickwork. Tasteful all round."
From BBC • Sep. 30, 2016
Tasteful pajamas and the promise of a suitably early breakfast assured him that he had made no mistake.
From Bertram Cope's Year by Fuller, Henry Blake
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.
