beauty
Americannoun
-
beauties
plural
-
the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
- Synonyms:
- allure, attractiveness, pulchritude
-
a beautiful person, especially a woman.
- Synonyms:
- belle
-
treatments and products that enhance a person’s physical attractiveness, or the industry associated with this.
She left her career in business administration to pursue her passion in beauty and wellness.
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a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.
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Often beauties. a beautiful feature or trait in nature or in some natural or artificial environment.
the rugged beauties of our seashore and mountains.
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an individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm.
a vivid blue area that is the one real beauty of the painting.
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Informal. a particular advantage.
One of the beauties of this medicine is the freedom from aftereffects.
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(often used ironically) someone or something that is extraordinary, remarkable, or amazing; a beaut.
That sunburn is a real beauty!
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something excellent of its kind.
My old car, now she was a beauty.
adjective
noun
-
the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind
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a very attractive and well-formed girl or woman
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informal an outstanding example of its kind
the horse is a beauty
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informal an advantageous feature
one beauty of the job is the short hours
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informal a light-hearted and affectionate term of address
hello, my old beauty!
interjection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of beauty
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English be(a)ute, from Old French beaute; replacing Middle English bealte, from Old French beltet, from unattested Vulgar Latin bellitāt- (stem of unattested bellitās ), equivalent to Latin bell(us) “fine” + -itāt- noun suffix; see -ity
Explanation
Ah, beauty. Anything that has it pleases the senses, like a delicious scent, a perfect piece of pie, or a gorgeous person walking by. A noun describing an incredibly pleasing or harmonious quality or feature, beauty is hard to describe. Sure, super models and classical paintings exhibit beauty. But so do well designed sports cars and perfectly executed soccer goals. Belle found beauty in the Beast, astrologers find beauty in the stars, and arachnologists find beauty in giant hairy spiders. So that's why many people say that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
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:
And beauty is relative, especially when it comes to borrowing.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Bend, a popular destination for its natural beauty and outdoor recreation scene, "is devastated," Vanetsky said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
She said being self-employed in the beauty industry meant she had flexibility, but no financial safety net.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
The selective-retail business recorded an even zippier 8% increase, driven by strong growth at beauty retailer Sephora.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
“Are you worried that if you don’t get your beauty rest you won’t be Luc’s favorite anymore?”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
His previous feature, 2016’s love-it-or-hate-it loony toon “The Neon Demon,” was a modeling industry semi-satire that featured beauties quite literally gobbling up their ingenue competition.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
“The ocean is always changing, and that is one of the beauties of commercial fishing—we get the firsthand view.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Women should think twice before succumbing to the charm of all these Instagram beauties and going under the knife."
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
As for the Mother Tree Project, it found that the more towering beauties left in situ, the better for all types of seedlings and plants in the test sites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
I was hungry for green vegetables, and that night as I went off to sleep, I thought of the pokeweeds, the dandelions, the spring beauties that would soon be pressing up from the earth.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
