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Synonyms

stylish

American  
[stahy-lish] / ˈstaɪ lɪʃ /

adjective

  1. characterized by or conforming to style or the fashionable standard; fashionably elegant; smart or chic.

    She wore a very stylish gown to the inaugural ball.


stylish British  
/ ˈstaɪlɪʃ /

adjective

  1. having style; smart; fashionable

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of stylish

First recorded in 1775–85; style + -ish 1

Explanation

A stylish person is someone who has a bold sense of fashion, like a queen with flowing robes and gowns, or your friend who always wears the best-looking jeans. Stylish can describe polite and elegant manners, or it can describe dressing with the current fashion trends, like you walked off the pages of a magazine. The word style makes up the bulk of stylish, and stylish people are in tune with all the latest styles of dress. The suffix ish- can mean “belonging to” and also “addicted to,” and stylish people sometimes do have an addiction to clothes.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing stylish

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 most stylish way to wear them this summer is with a kitten heel, according to fashion expert and trend forecaster Angela Baidoo.

From BBC Aug. 4, 2026

This boundary is known as the particle horizon, the cosmological horizon, or the comoving horizon, depending on how stylish you feel in the moment.

From Science Daily Jul. 25, 2026

His nimble, stylish solo on Henry Mancini’s 1963 theme to the police-caper comedy “The Pink Panther” became cultural shorthand for an era of sly jazz panache.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 21, 2026

Tim Burton’s stylish 1989 movie, “Batman,” wasn’t only a forerunner of the superhero films to come in the following decades.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 10, 2026

The stylish “Seabiscuit” ladies’ hat, with a fishnet veil, was all the rage in department stores on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

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