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
“Teach me how to not be afraid,” the clergyman, a composite figure of several acquaintances, asks Rustin, a line emblematic of the film’s occasional inelegance.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2023
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
I find the poem affecting; I call it a good poem; but the writing has quite a bit of Hardy’s characteristic awkwardness and inelegance.
From Slate • Feb. 12, 2013
The inelegance of the appellation perhaps explains why the bird has been permitted to retain it for quite a long while unchanged.
From Birds of the Indian Hills by Dewar, Douglas
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.
