elegant
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
graceful and attractive in appearance or behaviour.
characterised by grace, refinement, or tasteful beauty in appearance, movement, or manner.
Simple“She wore an elegant black dress to the wedding reception.”
In context“The hotel lobby was decorated in an elegant style, featuring marble floors and understated lighting that created a sophisticated atmosphere.”
Synonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
describing a solution or idea that is simple, clever, and works perfectly.
characterised by minimalism and intuitiveness while maintaining precision; often used of mathematical proofs or software code.
Simple“The scientist found an elegant way to solve the difficult problem.”
In context“The programmer was praised for her elegant solution, which reduced the complex algorithm to just three lines of highly efficient code.”
UsageOften used to praise the efficiency of a design or a logical argument.
Antonyms
“She was still a very elegant lady, very smartly dressed.”
“Tracey Dee is an elegant, softly spoken woman with thick, dark hair and candy-pink lipstick.”
From Late Middle English elegaunt, from Middle French elegant, ultimately from Latin ēlegāns.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.