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unelegant

 - 2 dictionary results

el⋅e⋅gant

[el-i-guhnt]
–adjective
1. tastefully fine or luxurious in dress, style, design, etc.: elegant furnishings.
2. gracefully refined and dignified, as in tastes, habits, or literary style: an elegant young gentleman; an elegant prosodist.
3. graceful in form or movement: an elegant wave of the hand.
4. appropriate to refined taste: a man devoted to elegant pursuits.
5. excellent; fine; superior: an absolutely elegant wine.
6. (of scientific, technical, or mathematical theories, solutions, etc.) gracefully concise and simple; admirably succinct.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME (< MF) < L ēlegant- (s. of ēlegāns) tasteful, choice, equiv. to ēleg- (akin to ēlig- select; see elect ) + -ant- -ant; orig. prp. of lost v.


el⋅e⋅gant⋅ly, adverb


1. See fine. 2. polished, courtly.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

elegant 
c.1485, from M.Fr. élégant, from L. elegantem (nom. elegans) "choice, fine, tasteful," prp. of eligere "select with care, choose." Elegans was originally a term of reproach, "dainty, fastidious;" the notion of "tastefully refined" emerged in classical L.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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