graceful
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
moving in a smooth, relaxed, and attractive way.
characterised by elegance, beauty of movement, or harmony of form.
Simple“The dancer was so graceful that she seemed to float across the stage.”
In context“The gazelle made a graceful leap over the tall grass, escaping the predator with effortless fluidity.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
behaving in a kind and pleasant way, especially in a difficult situation.
showing kindness, politeness, and a lack of arrogance, particularly when facing defeat or criticism.
Simple“He was very graceful in defeat and congratulated the winner immediately.”
In context“Accepting the award with a graceful speech, the actress took care to credit the entire production crew for their hard work.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
describing a computer program or system that stops or changes without causing errors.
referring to a process, system, or exit that occurs in a controlled manner without causing disruption or data loss.
Simple“The server performed a graceful shutdown, ensuring all user data was saved first.”
In context“The application was designed for graceful degradation, allowing core features to remain functional even when the external database was offline.”
UsageOften used in the phrase 'graceful degradation' or 'graceful exit'.
Synonyms
“A lot of beautiful graceful players tend to be beautiful and graceful without delivering on the biggest occasions.”
From Middle English graceful. By surface analysis, grace + -ful.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.