a conception of perfect beauty.
a model of excellence.
First recorded in 1795–1805, beau ideal is from French beau idéal literally, “ideal beauty.” See beau, ideal
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
Or so goes the famous line by Irving Howe, the beau ideal of the politically engaged writer and a founder of the left-wing intellectual magazine Dissent.
From New York Times • Jul. 2, 2014
His birthplace, Urbino, was also that of Raphael, the beau ideal to whom all painters aspired.
From The Guardian • Feb. 16, 2013
They all depict him as a noble and high-minded chief, without fear and without reproach, the very beau ideal of a knight of the olden time.
From Curiosities of Human Nature by Anonymous
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.
