Elegance Meaning
/ˈɛl.ɪ.ɡəns/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounGrace, refinement, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners.
nounRestraint and grace of style.
Sentence Examples
Elegance at all times.
Everybody at the party was charmed by her elegance.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dancer moved with such ____ that the audience was mesmerized.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ at all times.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French élégance, from Latin ēlegantia (“exquisiteness; refinement, elegance”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"As to the comforts and elegances of life, we have enough of them for our good."
— 1852, Various, Young Americans Abroad:
"At Rome, when Sallust was the fashionable writer, short sentences, uncommon words, and an obscure brevity, were affected as so many elegances."
— 1881, Isaac D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1:
"Phineas Duge[…] was, for a man of affairs and an American, singularly fond of the small elegances of life. Although he sat alone at dinner, the table was heaped with choice flowers and carefully selected hothouse fruit."
— 1909, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 10, in The Governors:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The dancer moved with such ____ that the audience was mesmerized.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ at all times.