el ‧ e ‧ gant /ˈeləɡənt, ˈelɪɡənt/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: French ; Origin: Latin elegans 'specially chosen as being of good quality' , from eligere ; ⇨ ↑ elect 1 ]
1 . beautiful, attractive, or graceful:
a tall, elegant young woman
You can dine in elegant surroundings.
2 . an idea or a plan that is elegant is very intelligent yet simple:
an elegant solution to the problem
—elegantly adverb
—elegance noun [uncountable] :
the style and elegance of the designs
• • •
THESAURUS
■ place/thing etc
▪ beautiful used to describe something that looks, feels, sounds etc so good that it gives you a lot of pleasure:
a beautiful tropical beach
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a beautiful song
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The weather was beautiful.
▪ lovely especially British English spoken used when saying that something looks, feels, or sounds very nice:
What a lovely day!
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a lovely voice
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a lovely perfume
▪ pretty pleasant to look at – often used about things that are not big or impressive:
a pretty little pink dress
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a pretty village
▪ attractive pleasant to look at. Attractive sounds more formal than pretty :
an attractive white-painted cottage with green shutters
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an attractive city
▪ magnificent very big, beautiful, and impressive – used about buildings, objects, and views:
The Taj Mahal always looks magnificent.
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a magnificent Persian carpet
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There were magnificent views over the old city.
▪ picturesque written pleasant to look at – used in written descriptions of towns, buildings, and places:
the picturesque harbour town of Castleton
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Regensburg Cathedral occupies a picturesque position on the River Danube in Bavaria.
▪ stunning/breathtaking extremely beautiful and impressive – used especially about views:
All around is a stunning view of Cape Town.
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The landscape is breathtaking.
▪ exquisite /ɪkˈskwɪzət, ɪkˈskwɪzɪt, ˈekskwɪ-/ used to describe things that have very beautiful small details, especially things that have been made with a lot of skill:
an exquisite piece of jewellery
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an exquisite flower
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an exquisite picture of a bird of paradise
▪ elegant designed in a way that looks very attractive and has a lot of style:
an elegant Neo-Classical building
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a long and elegant staircase