elegant

See also: élégant and êlégant

English

Etymology

From Middle French elegant, ultimately from Latin elegans.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɛl.ə.ɡənt/
  • (file)

Adjective

elegant (comparative more elegant, superlative most elegant)

  1. Characterised by or exhibiting elegance.
    • 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:
      You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.
  2. Characterised by minimalism and intuitiveness while preserving exactness and precision.
    an elegant solution
  3. (Ireland, colloquial, archaic) Fine; doing well.
    • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
      'An' how are ye, Jemmie—how's every inch iv you?' enquired Moggy of the boy, when his agitation was a little blown over.
      'I'm elegant, thank ye,' he answered; 'an' what's the matther wid ye all? I cum through the kitchen, and seen no one.'

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

elegant (plural elegants)

  1. An elegant parrot.
    • 1895, The Avicultural Magazine, Volume 1, The Avicultural Society for the Study of Foreign and British Birds, page 22:
      But if the Aviarist be ambitious to keep the lovely, but destructive, members of the Parrot family, he must be content with grass alone, because Parrakeets (except the weak-billed Turquoisines and Elegants) would destroy the shrubs and trees in a day.

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ēlegantem.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

elegant m or f (masculine and feminine plural elegants)

  1. elegant
    Antonym: inelegant

Derived terms

Further reading

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French élégant, from Latin ēlegāns.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /eləɡant/, [eləˈɡ̊anˀd̥]

Adjective

elegant

  1. elegant, smart
  2. elegant, neat
  3. (adverbial) elegantly, smartly, neatly

Inflection

Inflection of elegant
Positive Comparative Superlative
Indefinte common singular elegant elegantere elegantest2
Indefinite neuter singular elegant elegantere elegantest2
Plural elegante elegantere elegantest2
Definite attributive1 elegante elegantere eleganteste
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Derived terms

  • uelegant

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French elegant.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌeːləˈɣɑnt/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: ele‧gant
  • Rhymes: -ɑnt

Adjective

elegant (comparative eleganter, superlative elegantst)

  1. elegant

Inflection

Inflection of elegant
uninflected elegant
inflected elegante
comparative eleganter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial eleganteleganterhet elegantst
het elegantste
indefinite m./f. sing. eleganteelegantereelegantste
n. sing. eleganteleganterelegantste
plural eleganteelegantereelegantste
definite eleganteelegantereelegantste
partitive elegantseleganters

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Anagrams

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French elegant.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /eleˈɡant/, /eləˈɡant/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

elegant (strong nominative masculine singular eleganter, comparative eleganter, superlative am elegantesten)

  1. elegant

Declension

Further reading

  • elegant” in Duden online
  • elegant” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Latin

Verb

ēlēgant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of ēlēgō

Middle French

Adjective

elegant m (feminine singular elegante, masculine plural elegants, feminine plural elegantes)

  1. elegant

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant.

Adjective

elegant (neuter singular elegant, definite singular and plural elegante)

  1. elegant

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant.

Adjective

elegant (neuter singular elegant, definite singular and plural elegante)

  1. elegant

References

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French élégant, from Latin ēlegāns.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛˈlɛ.ɡant/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛɡant
  • Syllabification: e‧le‧gant

Noun

elegant m pers (female equivalent elegantka, diminutive elegancik)

  1. elegant man

Declension

Further reading

  • elegant in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • elegant in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French élégant, from Latin elegans.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Adjective

elegant m or n (feminine singular elegantă, masculine plural eleganți, feminine and neuter plural elegante)

  1. tasteful

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌɛlɛˈɡant/
  • (file)

Adjective

elegant (comparative elegantare, superlative elegantast)

  1. elegant

Declension

Inflection of elegant
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular elegant elegantare elegantast
Neuter singular elegantt elegantare elegantast
Plural eleganta elegantare elegantast
Masculine plural3 elegante elegantare elegantast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 elegante elegantare elegantaste
All eleganta elegantare elegantaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

See also

Noun

elegant c

  1. an elegance (person who is (doing something) elegant)

Usage notes

Often a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Declension

Declension of elegant 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative elegant eleganten eleganter eleganterna
Genitive elegants elegantens eleganters eleganternas

References

Anagrams

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