aquiline means of, pertaining to, or characteristic of eagles; resembling that of an eagle. It carries an Arena rating of 1591, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, aquiline ranks #1,544 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,150 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #3,174 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,105 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
aquiline is pronounced /ˈæk.wɪˌlaɪn/.
Why “aquiline” is a great word
Curved or hooked like an eagle's beak, especially in describing the shape of a human nose. From the Latin aquilīnus ("of or like an eagle"), from aquila ("eagle"), first attested in English c. 1640. Unlike "straight" (which suggests an undeviating line) or "snub" (which implies a short, upturned softness), aquiline denotes a profile of predatory grace and aristocratic severity. It is the silhouette of a Roman emperor on a coin, the shadow cast by a strong face in lamplight, and the imposing line that suggests not just ancestry, but distance—a sharp, elegant angle separating the individual from the merely human.
Etymology
From Latin aquilīnus, from aquila (“eagle”).
adj
- Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of eagles; resembling that of an eagle.e.g.“Frank's aquiline nose jutted out from underneath his glasses.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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