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chic

[sheek]
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adjective, chic·er, chic·est.
  1. attractive and fashionable; stylish: a chic hat.
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noun
  1. style and elegance, especially in dress: Paris clothes have such chic.
  2. stylishness; modishness: the chic of the firstnighters.
  3. casual and understated style, as in dress or décor, that expresses a specified trendy lifestyle or activity: Black-rimmed glasses bring some geek chic to your outfit.
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Origin of chic

1855–60; < French < German Schick skill
Related formschic·ly, adverbchic·ness, nounsu·per·chic, adjectiveul·tra·chic, adjective
Can be confusedchic chick

Synonyms

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1. smart, elegant, modish.

Pronunciation note

The spelling pronunciation [chik] /tʃɪk/ is considered nonstandard except when used facetiously.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ultra-chic

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Before March brings the Auteuil races, Paris is, in the eyes of the ultra-chic, a wilderness.

    In Vanity Fair

    Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd

British Dictionary definitions for ultra-chic

chic

adjective
  1. (esp of fashionable clothes, women, etc) stylish or elegant
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noun
  1. stylishness, esp in dress; modishness; fashionable good taste
  2. any of various fashion movements based on a particular lifestyleradical chic; geek chic
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Derived Formschicly, adverb

Word Origin

C19: from French, of uncertain origin
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

Word Origin and History for ultra-chic

chic

1856, as a noun, "style, artistic skill," from French chic, 19c. in "stylishness" sense, originally "subtlety" (16c.), of unknown origin, perhaps [Klein] related to German Schick "tact, skill," from Middle Low German schikken "arrange appropriately," or Middle High German schicken "to arrange, set in order;" or from French chicane, from chicanerie (see chicanery). The adjectival meaning "stylish" is from 1879 in English, "Not so used in F[rench]." [OED].

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper