well-turned
Americanadjective
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gracefully shaped.
a well-turned ankle.
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gracefully and concisely expressed.
a well-turned phrase.
adjective
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(of a phrase, speech, etc) apt and pleasingly sonorous
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having a pleasing shape
a well-turned leg
Etymology
Origin of well-turned
First recorded in 1610–20
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.
Taken on its own terms and not as an adaptation,”The Buccaneers” is a well-turned object, pretty to look at and evidently expensive.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2023
"For his part, Depp delivers his lines in well-turned French, wearing fine powder and a stiff white wig, and yet he seems strangely uncomfortable in the role - adequate but not especially engaged," he added.
From BBC • May 17, 2023
Too disappointed by her husband’s self-deceptions and their ruinous consequences to miss him, Krystal quickly moves on, finding a new love interest she’s sure she can control with a well-turned eyebrow raise.
From Slate • Aug. 22, 2019
The effect is both piquantly engaging and dishearteningly synthetic, like a well-turned sound effect—one simulating the thud of a screenplay dropped on a desk.
From The New Yorker • Aug. 8, 2019
Their petticoats, short enough to display a well-turned ankle, were richly laced and embroidered, and striped and flounced with gaudy colors, of which scarlet was the most common.
From The Life of Bret Harte With Some Account of the California Pioneers by Merwin, Henry Childs
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.
