beauty

- 4 dictionary results

beau⋅ty

[byoo-tee]

–noun, plural -ties.

1.	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).

2.	a beautiful person, esp. a woman.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Origin:
1225–75; ME be(a)ute < OF beaute; r. ME bealte < OF beltet < VL *bellitāt- (s. of *bellitās), equiv. to L bell(us) fine + -itāt- -ity

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

Antonyms:
1. ugliness.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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beau·ty (byōō'tē)

n. pl. beau·ties

The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.
One that is beautiful, especially a beautiful woman.
A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling: The beauty of the venture is that we stand to lose nothing.
An outstanding or conspicuous example: "Hammett's gun went off. The shot was a beauty, just slightly behind the eyes" (Lillian Hellman).

[Middle English beaute, from Old French biaute, from Vulgar Latin *bellitās, from Latin bellus, pretty; see deu-² in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

beauty

c.1275, from Anglo-Norm. beute, from O.Fr. bealte, earlier beltet, from V.L. bellitatem "state of being handsome," from L. bellus "fine, beautiful," in classical L. used especially of women and children, or ironically or insultingly of men. 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 1483. Abbreviated form beaut "a beautiful thing or person" is from 1866. Beauteous, now limited to poetry, is attested earlier (1440) than beautiful (1526). Beautician first recorded 1924, Amer.Eng. (the Cleveland, Ohio, telephone directory, to be precise); beauty salon is from 1922, a classier substitution for earlier beauty shop (1901). Beauty sleep "sleep before midnight" is attested by 1850. Beautiful people "the fashionable set" first attested 1964.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

beauty

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

Search another word or see beauty on Thesaurus | Reference

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