beau ideal
noun
a conception of perfect beauty.
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beau ideal
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beau idéal
beau idéalnounperfect beauty or excellence
beau ideal
Americannoun
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beaus ideal,
plural
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beaux ideal,
plural
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beau ideals
plural
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a conception of perfect beauty.
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a model of excellence.
beau idéal
British
/ bo ideal /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of beau ideal
First recorded in 1795–1805, beau ideal is from French beau idéal literally, “ideal beauty.” See beau, ideal
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.
See Examples For:
The Chopin that emerges in “Becoming George” is far from a Romantic beau ideal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Their friendship was the beau ideal of warrior comrades.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022
Lipsyte: One of the reasons that the older reporters were antagonistic to him, besides the fact that he wasn’t laconic like Joe Louis, their beau ideal, was the unorthodoxy of his style.
From Slate ● Jun. 4, 2016
Or so goes the famous line by Irving Howe, the beau ideal of the politically engaged writer and a founder of the left-wing intellectual magazine Dissent.
From New York Times ● Jul. 2, 2014
Upon subsequent inquiry, we found that Mrs. Lean had a friend called "Gertrude," and that "Joan" was distinctly Captain Marryat's beau ideal of a woman's name.
From There is no Death by Florence Marryatt
Will’s beau idéal, Ronald Reagan, used it frequently on the rubber-chicken-and-peas circuit.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
It dominated the public discussion, especially among young English economists in training, for whom the brilliant, dashing, socially connected Keynes was a beau idéal.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 18, 2017
Indoors, the quaint old house now looked simply picturesque, and Mrs. Jones the beau idéal of a cheery old hostess.
From Uncanny Tales by Mrs. Mary Louisa Molesworth
After this beau idéal of a morning toilet comes the ante-prandial drill.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 45, July, 1861 by Various
Then she would describe her beau idéal, and the description certainly gave no counterpart of Harry Norman.
From The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
