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• grace
  grace

  noun

  elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.
• Grace
  Grace

  noun

  William Russell, 1832–1904, U.S. financier and shipping magnate, born in Ireland: mayor of New York City 1880–88.

grace

¹ American  

[grays] / greɪs /

noun

• graces
  plural

1. elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.

   We watched her skate with effortless grace across the ice.

   Synonyms:

   class, refinement, charm, attractiveness

2. a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.

   He lacked the manly graces.

3. favor or goodwill.

   Synonyms:

   benevolence, benignity, love, kindliness, kindness

4. a manifestation of favor, especially by a superior.

   It was only through the dean's grace that I wasn't expelled from school.

   Synonyms:

   charity, forgiveness

   Antonyms:

   disfavor, enmity, animosity

5. mercy; clemency; pardon.

   He was saved by an act of grace from the governor.

   Synonyms:

   reprieve, leniency, lenity

6. favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.

7. an allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor before suit can be brought against them or a penalty applied.

   The life insurance premium is due today, but we have 31 days' grace before the policy lapses.

8. Theology.

   1. the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.

   2. the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.

   3. a virtue or excellence of divine origin.

      the Christian graces.

   4. Also called state of grace. the condition of being in God's favor or one of the elect.

9. moral strength.

   the grace to perform a duty.

10. a short prayer before or after a meal, in which a blessing is asked and thanks are given.

    Grandfather will now say grace.

11. Usually Grace a formal title used in addressing or mentioning a duke, duchess, or archbishop, and formerly also a sovereign (usually preceded by your, his, etc.).

12. Classical Mythology. Graces, the goddesses of beauty, daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, worshiped in Greece as the Charities and in Rome as the Gratiae.

13. Music. grace note.

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verb (used with object)

• graces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• graced,
  past participle,  past
• gracing
  present participle

1. to lend or add grace to; adorn.

   Many fine paintings graced the rooms of the house.

   Synonyms:

   enhance, ornament, decorate, deck, beautify, embellish

   Antonyms:

   demean, desecrate, disfigure

2. to favor or honor.

   to grace an occasion with one's presence.

   Synonyms:

   exalt, elevate, glorify

   Antonyms:

   dishonor, disrespect

idioms

1. fall from grace,

   1. Theology. to relapse into sin or disfavor.

   2. to lose favor; be discredited.

      He fell from grace when the boss found out he had lied.

2. but for the grace of God, under less fortunate circumstances.

   But for the grace of God, the brick that just fell from the roof would have hit me on the head!

3. with good grace, willingly; ungrudgingly.

   She took on the extra work with good grace.

4. with bad grace, reluctantly; grudgingly: Also with a bad grace.

   He apologized, but did so with bad grace.

5. have the grace to, to be so kind as to.

   Would you have the grace to help, please?

6. by the grace of God, thankfully; fortunately.

   By the grace of God, I won't have to deal with tax returns for another year.

7. in someone's good / bad graces, regarded with favor (or disfavor) by someone.

   It is a wonder that I have managed to stay in her good graces this long.

Grace ² American  

[grays] / greɪs /

noun

1. William Russell, 1832–1904, U.S. financier and shipping magnate, born in Ireland: mayor of New York City 1880–88.

2. a female given name.

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grace ¹ British  

/ ɡreɪs /

noun

1. elegance and beauty of movement, form, expression, or proportion

2. a pleasing or charming quality

3. goodwill or favour

4. the granting of a favour or the manifestation of goodwill, esp by a superior

5. a sense of propriety and consideration for others

6. (plural)

   1. affectation of manner (esp in the phrase airs and graces )

   2. regarded favourably and with kindness by someone

7. mercy; clemency

8. Christianity

   1. the free and unmerited favour of God shown towards man

   2. the divine assistance and power given to man in spiritual rebirth and sanctification

   3. the condition of being favoured or sanctified by God

   4. an unmerited gift, favour, etc, granted by God

9. a short prayer recited before or after a meal to invoke a blessing upon the food or give thanks for it

10. music a melodic ornament or decoration

11. See days of grace

12. unwillingly or grudgingly

13. willingly or cheerfully

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verb

1. (tr) to add elegance and beauty to

   flowers graced the room

2. (tr) to honour or favour

   to grace a party with one's presence

3. to ornament or decorate (a melody, part, etc) with nonessential notes

Grace ² British  

/ ɡreɪs /

noun

1. a title used to address or refer to a duke, duchess, or archbishop

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Grace ³ British  

/ ɡreɪs /

noun

1. W ( illiam ) G ( ilbert ). 1848–1915, English cricketer

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grace More Idioms  

1. see fall from grace; in someone's bad graces; in someone's good graces; saving grace; say grace; there but for the grace of god; with good grace.

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Pop Culture

— Amazing Grace: A hymn written by English clergyman John Newton, who participated in the slave trade before finding religion. — Grace: Jeff Buckley’s sole studio album, released in 1994, just three years before his early death.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gracelike
  adjective
• ungraced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• graces
  plural

Participles

• gracing
  present
• graced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• grace
  simple
• graces
  simple
• have graced
  perfect
• has graced
  perfect
• am gracing
  progressive
• are gracing
  progressive
• is gracing
  progressive
• have been gracing
  perfect progressive
• has been gracing
  perfect progressive

Past

• graced
  simple
• had graced
  perfect
• was gracing
  progressive
• were gracing
  progressive
• had been gracing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will grace
  simple
• will have graced
  perfect
• will be gracing
  progressive
• will have been gracing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of grace

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin grātia “favor, kindness, esteem,” derivative of grātus “pleasing”

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Explanation

Grace commonly refers to a smooth and pleasing way of moving, or a polite and thoughtful way of behaving. But when someone says they were late to the airport and only made it onto their plane by the grace of God, they're talking about grace in the context of God's favor. "Social graces" are the skills needed for being polite, and if you are "in someone's good graces," they regard you with favor. In Middle English, the word grace originally meant "God's favor or help," a sense that we still use today. The related word gracious originally meant "filled with God's favor or help." Grace was borrowed from Old French, from Latin gratia, "pleasing quality, favor, thanks," from gratus, "pleasing."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grace Grace graces graced gracing

“They didn’t want to rubber-stamp another term of it. Councilmember Raman stepped up with courage and grace to take on the status quo. It’s never easy.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

Engaging with other people’s perceptions is a practice we could all stand to do with more grace and tact.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

Fear does a lot of things, and although it can often present as anger, your stepmother should be afforded some grace.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026

The ritual of a nation coming together to choose its path is an outward sign of the inward grace that animates self-government.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

Auntie Nina says grace, and then we dig into our dinner.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

"We need better ways to obtain and verify information, trace complex corporate relationships, and impose meaningful consequences on errant entities," Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said.

From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026

The company said Mistral Large 4 was trained on 3,800 Nvidia Grace Blackwell GPUs in its European data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

For Grace, diagnosed with autism two years ago, the impact every autumn is considerable.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Grace Barlow, from Knowsley Council's recycling engagement team, said the initiative aimed to ease financial pressure on parents while reducing textile waste.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

“Ah,” said Mr. Huxley, stroking his chin and studying Grace as if she were a bug on the wall that he didn’t quite know how to squish.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

"The city stores have retained their upper end airs and graces, but the suburban stores leave a lot to be desired – they're mundane, they lack excitement and there's definitely no glitz," she said.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

That way, if the U.S. decides to sanction a Chinese institution, its actions would only affect less-important players, while letting China’s biggest banks stay in Washington’s good graces.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

Super Micro has been working its way back into Wall Street’s good graces, and its latest earnings report furthered the cause.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

At the time, the organization was engaged in rehabilitating its image and getting back into Hollywood’s good graces.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Parents from as far away as New York sent their children to Allen for its rigorous liberal arts curriculum, its religious teaching, and its insistence on imparting social graces to its students.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

It’s been about two decades since Sand, repped by IMG Models at the time, graced the catwalk for Giuliano Fujiwara and other high fashion designers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2026

Hugh Grant in 1986 and Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren in 1981 are just some of the acting talent to have graced its stage.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

Eliot’s name graced the title page; Cockenoe’s appeared nowhere.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Though graced with two top-flight receivers in Charles Davis and Demare Dezeurn, both of whom have committed to Cal, Green spread the wealth Friday, completing passes to six Warriors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

She let it fall back onto the table and graced us with a sneer.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

But Bulgaria is not the only country to have claims on Samuel, with a huge statue of the tsar gracing the North Macedonian capital Skopje.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

After she found out that the star would be gracing the Super Bowl stage, she posted a video of herself trying to master his lyrics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

The clubbers still gracing the doors aren't as loose with their cash as they used to be.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025

Last week, Los Angeles witnessed history as the K-pop community came together to celebrate 30 years of SM Entertainment with some of the biggest K-pop acts gracing the stage at Dignity Health Sports Park.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2025

Nothing gracing the table or passing their lips came close to meeting her impressive claim.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby

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