elegant
[el-i-guh nt]
- tastefully fine or luxurious in dress, style, design, etc.: elegant furnishings.
- gracefully refined and dignified, as in tastes, habits, or literary style: an elegant young gentleman; an elegant prosodist.
- graceful in form or movement: an elegant wave of the hand.
- appropriate to refined taste: a man devoted to elegant pursuits.
- excellent; fine; superior: an absolutely elegant wine.
- (of scientific, technical, or mathematical theories, solutions, etc.) gracefully concise and simple; admirably succinct.
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Origin of elegant
Synonyms
See more synonyms for elegant on Thesaurus.com2. polished, courtly.
Synonym study
1. See fine1.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for elegant
Contemporary Examples
I did a piece for Elle about the effort to remake her into an elegant presence fashion-wise.
Perhaps, like Hawking searching for his elegant equation, filmmakers will never find the answer.
They seem to have service for eight of these elegant blue-and-white plates.
But many spirits experts have long lauded Japanese whiskies as formidable—even the most elegant—drams.
That means Japanese whiskies are beautifully balanced and elegant; they touch and develop on every sensor on the palate.
Historical Examples
"Pray excuse me," replied Phoebus, with an elegant obeisance.
Tanglewood TalesNathaniel Hawthorne
They were dressed in very fine clothes, and had elegant manners.
Welsh Fairy TalesWilliam Elliott Griffis
That elegant connection of ours—that dear lady who was here yesterday—'
Little DorritCharles Dickens
I tore off the cover, and disclosed an elegant and portable edition of ‘Marmion.’
The Tenant of Wildfell HallAnne Bronte
The Comte de Kratry, an elegant young hussar, was also present.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
elegant
- tasteful in dress, style, or design
- dignified and graceful in appearance, behaviour, etc
- cleverly simple; ingeniousan elegant solution to a problem
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin ēlegāns tasteful, related to ēligere to select; see elect
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for elegant
adj.
late 15c., from Middle French élégant (15c.), from Latin elegantem (nominative elegans) "choice, fine, tasteful," collateral form of present participle of eligere "select with care, choose." Elegans was originally a term of reproach, "dainty, fastidious;" the notion of "tastefully refined" emerged in classical Latin. Related: Elegantly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper