beauty
English meaning: Beauty
Definition
The quality of being (especially visually) attractive, pleasing, fine or good-looking; comeliness.
Example
“1988, "… beauty and recollection, like danger, glamour, greed, hunger- everything but disappointment and desire- were concepts belonging to other people.” -Second Son, Robert Ferro”
Another example: “After the renovation, the house was a real beauty.”
Usage — When, Where & How
A neutral, slightly literary noun for attractiveness or pleasing quality. Common in everyday speech and in fixed phrases ('beauty salon', 'inner beauty'). Informally it can mean an excellent example of something ('a beauty of a goal').
Etymology & Origin
English — Origin & History
From Old French 'biauté' ('beauty, seductiveness'), from Vulgar Latin 'bellitas', from Latin 'bellus' ('pretty, fine'), in English from the 14th century.
Synonyms
Antonyms / Opposites
- ugliness
- plainness
Related Words
Common Collocations
- natural beauty
- inner beauty
- beauty salon
- beauty queen
- beauty of nature
Word Forms
beauty (n); beauties (pl); beautiful (adj); beautify (v)
Word Tools
Literary Heritage
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
/To thine own self be true/
“Be honest with yourself — and as naturally as night follows day, you will be unable to be false to others.”
“I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?”
/I'm nobody! Who are you?/
“I am nobody — and that quiet anonymity is more honest than the noise of public fame.”
Images
CC-licensed · free to useVideo
Language information
- Language
- English
- English
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- Indo-European
- Speakers
- 1.5B