beauty

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noun, plural beau·ties.

the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

a beautiful person, especially a woman.

a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.

Often, beauties. something that is beautiful in nature or in some natural or artificial environment.

an individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm: a vivid blue area that is the one real beauty of the painting.

Informal. a particular advantage: One of the beauties of this medicine is the freedom from aftereffects.

(usually used ironically) something extraordinary: My sunburn was a real beauty.

something excellent of its kind: My old car was a beauty.

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Origin:
1225–75; Middle English be(a)ute < Old French beaute; replacing Middle English bealte < Old French beltet < Vulgar Latin *bellitāt- (stem of *bellitās), equivalent to Latin bell(us) fine + -itāt- -ity

Related forms

non·beau·ty, noun, plural non·beau·ties.

Synonyms
1. loveliness, pulchritude, comeliness, fairness, attractiveness. 2. belle.

Antonyms
1. ugliness.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To Beauty

00:10

Beauty is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

beauty (ˈbjuːtɪ)

—n , pl -ties
1.	the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind
2.	a very attractive and well-formed girl or woman
3.	informal an outstanding example of its kind: the horse is a beauty
4.	informal an advantageous feature: one beauty of the job is the short hours
5.	informal, old-fashioned a light-hearted and affectionate term of address: hello, my old beauty!

—*interj*
6.	Also (Scot, Austral, and NZ): you beauty an expression of approval or agreement

[C13: from Old French biauté, from biau beautiful; see beau]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

beauty

late 13c., from Anglo-Norm. beute, O.Fr. biauté (12c., "beauty, seductiveness, beautiful person," Mod.Fr. beauté), earlier beltet, from V.L. bellitatem (nom. bellitas) "state of being handsome," from L. bellus "pretty, handsome, charming," in classical L. used especially of women and children,

or ironically or insultingly of men, perhaps from PIE *dw-eye- and related to bonus "good," bene "well." Famously defined by Stendhal as la promesse de bonheur "the promise of happiness." Replaced O.E. wlite. Concrete meaning "a beautiful woman" is first recorded late 15c. Beauty sleep "sleep before midnight" is attested by 1850.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

beauty

In addition to the idiom beginning with beauty, also see that's the beauty of.