Beaux-Arts

[ boh-zahr; French boh-zar ]

adjective
  1. noting or pertaining to a style of architecture, popularly associated with the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, that prevailed in France in the late 19th century and that was adopted in the U.S. and elsewhere c1900, characterized by the free and eclectic use and adaptation of French architectural features of the 16th through 18th centuries combined so as to give a massive, elaborate, and often ostentatious effect, and also by the use of symmetrical plans preferably allowing vast amounts of interior space.

  2. resembling the architecture, architectural precepts, or teaching methods of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris: often used in a pejorative sense to designate excessive formalism disregarding considerations of structural truth, advanced aesthetic theory, rational planning, or economy.

plural noun
  1. (lowercase) the fine arts, as painting or music.

Origin of Beaux-Arts

1
First recorded in 1815–25

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Beaux-Arts in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for beaux-arts

beaux-arts

/ (bəʊˈzɑː) /


pl n
  1. another word for fine art

  2. (modifier) relating to the classical decorative style, esp that of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris: beaux-arts influences

Origin of beaux-arts

1
C19: French, literally: fine arts

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012