Word of the Day

Sunday, May 02, 2004

urbane

\ur-BAYN\ , adjective;

Polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant.

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Quotes:

Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane, articulate and smooth as butter.

-- Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full

It was conceded that he was . . . "the kind of person," one friend-turned-opponent says, "the Founding Fathers would have wanted in the Senate: urbane, witty, scholarly, wise, eloquent."

-- Godfrey Hodgson, The Gentleman From New York

The son of a famous father, . . . Harvard-educated, handsome, charming, urbane, a northeastern aristocrat with all the advantages, JFK appeared to be everything LBJ was not.

-- Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant

Origin:

Urbane comes from Latin urbanus, "of a city," hence "refined, polished," from urbs, "city." The noun form is urbanity.