elegance means grace, refinement, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners. It carries an Arena rating of 1995, earned across 44 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, elegance ranks #1,644 of 13,220 for Most Elegant Words, #2,268 of 13,220 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,380 of 13,220 for Most Malleable Words, #2,667 of 13,220 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
elegance is pronounced /ˈɛl.ɪ.ɡəns/.
Why “elegance” is a great word
ELEGANCE — [Noun] Grace, refinement, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners, characterized by simplicity and precision. From Middle French élégance, from Latin ēlegantia ("taste, propriety, refinement"). Unlike ornateness, which implies elaborate excess, or gaudiness, which denotes showy vulgarity, elegance is the art of disciplined restraint. It is the clean arc of a suspension bridge against a twilight sky, the decisive stroke of a master calligrapher's brush, or the silent solution to a complex equation—a quiet conviction that nothing more needs to be added.
Etymology
From Middle French élégance, from Latin ēlegantia (“exquisiteness; refinement, elegance”).
noun
- Grace, refinement, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners.“The bride was elegance personified.”
- Restraint and grace of style.“The simple dress had a quiet elegance.”
- The beauty of an idea characterized by minimalism and intuitiveness while preserving exactness and precision.“The proof of the theorem had a pleasing elegance.”
- A refinement or luxury.“As to the comforts and elegances of life, we have enough of them for our good.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- urbanity 87% match — Behaviour that is polished, refined, courteous. vs elegance →
- gentility 87% match — The state of being elegant, genteel, having good breeding, or being socially superior. vs elegance →
- suavity 86% match — The quality of being sweet or pleasing to the mind; agreeableness; pleasantness vs elegance →
- debonair 86% match — Gracious, courteous. vs elegance →
- debonairity 86% match — The quality of being debonair; debonair character, graciousness. vs elegance →
- pulchritude 86% match — Physical beauty. vs elegance →
- venusty 85% match — Elegance; physical beauty. vs elegance →
- inelegance 85% match — The state or quality of being inelegant; lack of grace, refinement, beauty, or polish in language, composition, or manners. vs elegance →