style

[ stahyl ]
See synonyms for style on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character: the baroque style; The style of the house was too austere for their liking.

  2. a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode of action or manner of acting: They do these things in a grand style.

  1. a mode of living, as with respect to expense or display.

  2. an elegant, fashionable, or luxurious mode of living: to live in style.

  3. a mode of fashion, as in dress, especially good or approved fashion; elegance; smartness.

  4. the mode of expressing thought in writing or speaking by selecting and arranging words, considered with respect to clearness, effectiveness, euphony, or the like, that is characteristic of a group, period, person, personality, etc.: to write in the style of Faulkner; a familiar style; a pompous, pedantic style.

  5. those components or features of a literary composition that have to do with the form of expression rather than the content of the thought expressed: His writing is all style and no substance.

  6. manner or tone adopted in discourse or conversation: a patronizing style of addressing others.

  7. a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode or form of construction or execution in any art or work: Her painting is beginning to show a personal style.

  8. a descriptive or distinguishing appellation, especially a legal, official, or recognized title: a firm trading under the style of Smith, Jones, & Co.

  9. the gnomon of a sundial.

  10. a method of reckoning time.: Compare New Style, old style (def. 2).

  11. Zoology. a small, pointed process or part.

  12. Botany. a narrow, usually cylindrical and more or less filiform extension of the pistil, which, when present, bears the stigma at its apex.

  13. the rules or customs of typography, punctuation, spelling, and related matters used by a newspaper, magazine, publishing house, etc., or in a specific publication.

verb (used with object),styled, styl·ing.
  1. to call by a given title or appellation; denominate; name; call: The pope is styled His or Your Holiness.

  2. to design or arrange in accordance with a given or new style: to style an evening dress; to style one's hair.

  1. to bring into conformity with a specific style or give a specific style to: Please style this manuscript.

verb (used without object),styled, styl·ing.
  1. to do decorative work with a style or stylus.

Idioms about style

  1. go out of style, to become unfashionable: The jacket he's wearing went out of style ten years ago.

  2. in style, fashionable.

Origin of style

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; (noun) Middle English, from Latin stylus, spelling variant, mistakenly associated with Greek stŷlos “pillar, column,” of stilus “tool for writing,” hence, “written composition, style”; see stylus; (verb) from the noun, first recorded in 1560–80

synonym study For style

5. See fashion.

Other words for style

Other words from style

  • styleless, adjective
  • style·less·ness, noun
  • stylelike, adjective
  • an·ti·style, noun
  • coun·ter·style, noun
  • mis·style, verb, mis·styled, mis·styl·ing.
  • re·style, verb, re·styled, re·styl·ing.
  • un·styled, adjective
  • well-styled, adjective

Words that may be confused with style

Other definitions for -style (2 of 3)

-style1

  1. a combining form of style (defs. 14, 15): blastostyle.

Other definitions for -style (3 of 3)

-style2

  1. a combining form with the meanings “column,” “columned,” “having columns (of the kind specified)” used in the formation of compound words: orthostyle; urostyle.

Origin of -style

3
<Greek stŷlos column or -stȳlos -columned, adj. derivative of stŷlos

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

British Dictionary definitions for style

style

/ (staɪl) /


noun
  1. a form of appearance, design, or production; type or make: a new style of house

  2. the way in which something is done: good or bad style

  1. the manner in which something is expressed or performed, considered as separate from its intrinsic content, meaning, etc

  2. a distinctive, formal, or characteristic manner of expression in words, music, painting, etc

  3. elegance or refinement of manners, dress, etc

  4. prevailing fashion in dress, looks, etc

  5. a fashionable or ostentatious mode of existence: to live in style

  6. the particular mode of orthography, punctuation, design, etc, followed in a book, journal, etc, or in a printing or publishing house

  7. mainly British the distinguishing title or form of address of a person or firm

  8. botany the stalk of a carpel, bearing the stigma

  9. zoology a slender pointed structure, such as the piercing mouthparts of certain insects

  10. a method of expressing or calculating dates: See Old Style, New Style

  11. another word for stylus (def. 1)

  12. the arm of a sundial

verb(mainly tr)
  1. to design, shape, or tailor: to style hair

  2. to adapt or make suitable (for)

  1. to make consistent or correct according to a printing or publishing style

  2. to name or call; designate: to style a man a fool

  3. (intr) to decorate objects using a style or stylus

Origin of style

1
C13: from Latin stylus, stilus writing implement, hence characteristics of the writing, style

Derived forms of style

  • stylar, adjective
  • styler, noun

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

Scientific definitions for style

style

[ stīl ]


  1. The slender part of a flower pistil, connecting the ovary and the stigma. The pollen tube grows through the style delivering the pollen nuclei to the ovary. See more at flower pollination.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with style

style

see cramp someone's style; go out (of style); in fashion (style).

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.