Etymology
Origin of inelegance
First recorded in 1720–30; ineleg(ant) + -ance
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.
Once a showcase of American power, the Oval Office has now become a shrine to inelegance.
From Salon • Jan. 4, 2026
Watching Ron live out this double-consciousness immediately triggered vivid memories of my own management of double consciousness — conducting that tricky dance that leaves no room for inelegance.
From The Guardian • Aug. 7, 2018
Is it possible that the slogan’s ungrammatical inelegance is part of that rebuke?
From Slate • May 7, 2018
“It was OK to show the inelegance of the juggle … having those cameras around when you’re putting your kids to bed at night.”
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2017
His later writing was emphatic in its stiff inelegance, but usually legible; the script of his middle period was, at its best, lax and straggling, at its worst almost indecipherable.
From Aspects and Impressions by Gosse, Edmund
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.
