different between elegant vs gaudy

English

Etymology

From Middle French elegant, ultimately from Latin elegans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l.?.??nt/

Adjective

elegant (comparative more elegant, superlative most elegant)

1. Characterised by or exhibiting elegance.
2. Characterised by minimalism and intuitiveness while preserving exactness and precision.

   an elegant solution

3. (Ireland, colloquial, archaic) Fine; doing well.

Synonyms

• (exhibiting elegance): classy, graceful

Antonyms

• clumsy
• haphazard
• inelegant

Derived terms

• elegance

Related terms

• elect
• eligible
• elite

Translations

Anagrams

• angelet

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ?leg?ns.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

elegant (masculine and feminine plural elegants)

1. elegant

   Antonym: inelegant

Derived terms

• elegantment

Related terms

• elegància
• inelegant

Further reading

• “elegant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “elegant” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “elegant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “elegant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French élégant, from Latin ?leg?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /el??ant/, [el????an?d?]

Adjective

elegant

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

Inflection

Derived terms

• uelegant

References

• “elegant” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French elegant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?l????nt/
• Hyphenation: ele?gant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adjective

elegant (comparative eleganter, superlative elegantst)

1. elegant

Inflection

Synonyms

• sierlijk
• gracieus

Antonyms

• lomp
• plomp

Derived terms

• elegantie

Anagrams

• gelaten

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French elegant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ele??ant/, /el???ant/
• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

elegant (comparative eleganter, superlative am elegantesten)

1. elegant

Declension

Further reading

• “elegant” in Duden online

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

Related terms

• eleganse

References

• “elegant” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant

Adjective

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

1. elegant

Related terms

• eleganse

References

• “elegant” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From French élégant, from Latin ?leg?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l?.?ant/

Noun

elegant m pers (diminutive elegancik, feminine elegantka)

1. elegant man

Declension

Further reading

• elegant in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• elegant in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French élégant, from Latin elegans.

Adjective

elegant m or n (feminine singular elegant?, masculine plural elegan?i, feminine and neuter plural elegante)

1. tasteful

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin elegans, via French élégant

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l???ant/

Adjective

elegant (comparative elegantare, superlative elegantast)

1. elegant

Declension

See also

• elegans c (noun)

References

• elegant in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• elegant in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• legaten

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????.di/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???.di/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /???.di/
• Rhymes: -??di

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from gaud (“ornament, trinket”) +? -y, perhaps ultimately from Old French gaudir (“to rejoice”).

Alternatively, from Middle English gaudi, gawdy (“yellowish”), from Old French gaude, galde (“weld (the plant)”), from Frankish *walda, from Proto-Germanic *walþ?, *walþij?, akin to Old English *weald, *wielde (>Middle English welde, wolde and Anglo-Latin walda (“alum”)), Middle Low German wolde, Middle Dutch woude. More at English weld.

A common claim that the word derives from Antoni Gaudí, designer of Barcelona's Sagrada Família Basilica, is incorrect: the word was in use centuries before Gaudí was born.

Adjective

gaudy (comparative gaudier, superlative gaudiest)

1. very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive, or in a tasteless or vulgar manner

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

     The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of its proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendour, and more real elegance, than the furniture of Rosings.

   • 2005, Thomas Hauser & Marilyn Cole Lownes, "How Bling-bling Took Over the Ring", The Observer, 9 January 2005

     Gaudy jewellery might offend some people's sense of style. But former heavyweight champion and grilling-machine entrepreneur George Foreman is philosophical about today's craze for bling-bling.

2. (obsolete) fun; merry; festive

   • And for my strange petition I will make
     Amends hereafter by some gaudy day

   • And then, there he was, slim and handsome, and dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw...

Synonyms

• (excessively showy): tawdry, flashy, garish, kitschy
• Thesaurus:gaudy

Derived terms

• gaudily
• gaudy night

Translations

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. One of the large beads in the rosary at which the paternoster is recited.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Latin gaudium (“joy”). Doublet of joy.

Noun

gaudy (plural gaudies)

1. A reunion held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford for alumni, normally held during the summer vacations.