[ i:s'θɛtɪk , ɛs- ]
( US also esthetic )
■ adjective concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.
↘of pleasing appearance.
↘( Aesthetic ) relating to or denoting a literary and artistic movement in England during the 1880s, devoted to ‘art for art's sake’ and rejecting the notion that art should have a social or moral purpose.
■ noun a set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.
Derivatives
~ally adverb
~ism noun
~ize or ~ise verb
Origin
C18: from Gk aisthētikos , from aisthēta 'perceptible things', from aisthesthai 'perceive'.