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
There is a kind of intentional inelegance, a stubborn awkwardness to Lynch’s work, something akin to outsider art, that keeps it from ever seeming glib,soulless or less than felt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2017
Her recent building for St Anthony’s college in Oxford, , meanwhile, smashes into its historic neighbour with the same thuggish inelegance as her Serpentine Sackler Centre does in London.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 31, 2016
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
I think Dr. Ramsay failed from the inelegance of the translation, and the translator's having departed entirely from the Doctor's instructions.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
