elegant
Americanadjective
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tastefully fine or luxurious in dress, style, design, etc..
elegant furnishings.
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gracefully refined and dignified, as in tastes, habits, or literary style.
an elegant young gentleman; an elegant prosodist.
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graceful in form or movement.
an elegant wave of the hand.
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appropriate to refined taste.
a man devoted to elegant pursuits.
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excellent; fine; superior.
an absolutely elegant wine.
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(of scientific, technical, or mathematical theories, solutions, etc.) gracefully concise and simple; admirably succinct.
adjective
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tasteful in dress, style, or design
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dignified and graceful in appearance, behaviour, etc
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cleverly simple; ingenious
an elegant solution to a problem
Synonym Usage
See fine 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of elegant
First recorded in 1400–50; Late Middle English (from Middle French ), from Latin ēlegant- (stem of ēlegāns ) “tasteful, choice,” equivalent to ēleg- (akin to ēlig- “select”) + -ant- a suffix forming adjectives from verbs; originally the present participle of ēlegāre (unattested); see origin at elect, -ant
Explanation
Nimble ballerinas and long-legged birds are elegant; dump trucks and walruses usually are not. Being graceful and refined are aspects of being elegant. That word first appears in English in the 15th century. It comes, via Old French, from the same Latin source that gave rise to the English word "elect, and it does seem that especially elegant people and things are in a select group. Very stylishly dressed men and women are elegant, and fine restaurants with distinctive delicacies are elegant. Most ordinary places and people can become elegant, though, when dressed up or adorned for special occasions. Even walruses can appear elegant when they're swimming.
Vocabulary lists containing elegant
Call of Beauty: Synonyms for "Beautiful"
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Bronx Masquerade
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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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.
“The View” host Joy Behar has found a buyer for her longtime Hamptons residence—nearly two years after the elegant dwelling was first brought to the market.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
In his view, the group understood before many others that the "aperitivo" to be enjoyed before dinner had to become a fun ritual at once simple, elegant and accessible.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Both displayed robust instruments with exceptional clarity, agility in florid passages, and moving sincerity in the many laments, which were ornamented with elegant subtlety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Within a month, he had developed an elegant formula that would upend scientific understanding of how molecules use energy and eventually win him the Nobel Prize.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Lothar Schmid, the elegant German referee, handed each man a blank envelope, and Spassky chose the one that indicated he’d hold the pieces.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
