beau ideal
Americannoun
plural
beaus ideal, beaux ideal, beau ideals-
a conception of perfect beauty.
-
a model of excellence.
noun
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.
When I ask for his American political beau ideal, he says Alexander Hamilton.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
Their friendship was the beau ideal of warrior comrades.
From Washington Post • Jul. 8, 2022
The reporters’ beau ideal of a boxer was the laconic Joe Louis.
From New York Times • Jun. 4, 2016
Lipsyte: One of the reasons that the older reporters were antagonistic to him, besides the fact that he wasn’t laconic like Joe Louis, their beau ideal, was the unorthodoxy of his style.
From Slate • Jun. 4, 2016
At last, by many slight but intelligible hints, she gradually brought the Baron to the idea that a union with herself would exactly realize the beau ideal which she had formed of happiness in marriage.
From The Devil's Elixir Vol. I (of 2) by Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)
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.
