elegance
[ el-i-guh ns ]
/ ˈɛl ɪ gəns /
noun
RELATED CONTENT
What Is An “Interrupter”?What’s an interrupter? Interrupters—like this little guy right here—are squeezing into more and more contemporary writing. They’re often the goofy/sarcastic “wink-wink-nudge-nudge” asides writers play with in nonacademic writing and online content. Also called insertions, interrupting phrases, or parenthetical expressions, interrupters are words, phrases, or clauses that break the flow of writing—because if the author feels like it, why not?—to offer additional, can’t-be-held-back, or spur-of-the-moment thoughts …
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
electrowinning, electrum, electuary, eledoisin, eleemosynary, elegance, elegancy, elegant, elegiac, elegiac couplet, elegiac pentameter
Related formshy·per·el·e·gance, nouno·ver·el·e·gance, nounsu·per·el·e·gance, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for elegance
British Dictionary definitions for elegance
elegance
elegancy
/ (ˈɛlɪɡəns) /
noun plural -gances or -gancies
dignified grace in appearance, movement, or behaviour
good taste in design, style, arrangement, etc
something elegant; a refinement
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for elegance
elegance
c.1500, "tastefulness, correctness, harmoniousness, refinement," of speech or prose, from Middle French élégance, from Latin elegantia "taste, propriety, refinement," from elegantem (see elegant). Earlier form was elegancy (early 15c.). Meaning "refined luxury" is from 1797.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper