bon ton

American  

[bon ton, bawn tawn] / ˈbɒn ˈtɒn, bɔ̃ ˈtɔ̃ /

noun

1. good or elegant form or style.

2. something regarded as fashionably correct.

   The bon ton in this circle is to dress well and know influential people.

3. fashionable society.

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bon ton British  

/ bɔ̃ tɔ̃ /

noun

1. sophisticated manners or breeding

2. fashionable society

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Etymology

Origin of bon ton

1765–75; < French: literally, good tone. See boon ², tone

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bon ton

But then, the bon ton, not content with padding only bums, moved the bustle round to the tummy at the front.

From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025

The book reports Lucius' ad ventures with "butlered bon ton."

From Time Magazine Archive

Bullock's Wilshire, tony Los Angeles department store, went after war-workers' dollars; Macy's, New York's people's store, waved farewell to the bon ton trade.

From Time Magazine Archive

Secret societies however are anything but forbidden under Dutch rule in Java,—on the contrary, it is rather bon ton to belong to some one of the lodges of freemasonry existent out there.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von

Sir John Trotley, who does not understand bon ton, thinks this sort of flirtation very objectionable.

From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham

Related Words

• civility
• decency
• decorum
• fitness
• rightness