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elegant

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“

The useful and the elegant are here everywhere happily blended; nothing seems disproportionate, or unsuitable to the purpose for which it was designed; and all that one regrets is that so beautiful a garden should be situated in so vile a swamp.

—Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official

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Definitions (12)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

adjective Characterized by or exhibiting refined, tasteful beauty of manner, form, or style. See Synonyms at delicate.

Century Dictionary (7)

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

She makes the most vulgar look elegant, and the elegant, divine! — Fairy Fingers A Novel
The establishment at Arenemberg was elegant, and on a large though not ostentatious scale. — Hortense Makers of History Series
The taste that is displayed in them is elegant, and the style, as rapid and flowing as correspondence need be--_prćterea nihil_. — The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy
Now remember to be very easy and elegant, and don't act shy. — In Blue Creek Cañon
Her circlet of jewels is very elegant, and is worn just above her brow, while the hair is braided close to the face. — The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 107, September, 1866

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Related

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

beautiful · graceful · neat · attractive · stately · expensive

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ēlegāns, ēlegant-, present participle of *ēlegāre, variant of ēligere, to select; see elect.

Century Dictionary (1)

= D. G. Danish Swedish elegant, from Old French elegant, French élégant = Spanish Portuguese Italian elegante, from Latin elegan(t-)s, sometimes spelled eligan(t-)s, of persons, luxurious, fastidious, choice, dainty, fine, tasteful, elegant; of things, choice, neat, fine, elegant; in form present participle of an unused verb *elegare, prob. equivalent to eligere, present participle eligen(t-)s, choose, pick out: see elect, eligible.

Pronunciations
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/ˈɛləgənt/

by American Heritage

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