different between exquisite vs unearthly

English

Etymology

From Latin exqu?s?tus, perfect passive participle of exqu?r? (“seek out”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?skw?z?t/, /??kskw?z?t/

Adjective

exquisite (comparative more exquisite, superlative most exquisite)

1. Especially fine or pleasing; exceptional.

   • Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

2. (obsolete) Carefully adjusted; precise; accurate; exact.
3. Recherché; far-fetched; abstruse.
4. Of special beauty or rare excellence.
5. Exceeding; extreme; keen, in a bad or a good sense.

6. Of delicate perception or close and accurate discrimination; not easy to satisfy; exact; fastidious.

   • his books of Oriental languages, wherein he was exquisite

Synonyms

• beautiful, delicate, discriminating, perfect

Translations

Noun

exquisite (plural exquisites)

1. (rare) Fop, dandy. [from early 20th c.]
   • 1849, Alexander Mackay, The western world; or, travels in the United States in 1846-87 (page 93)

     It is impossible to meet with a more finished coxcomb than a Broadway exquisite, or a “Broadway swell,” which is the designation attached to him on the spot.

   • 1925, P. G. Wodehouse, Sam the Sudden, Random House, London:2007, p. 42.

     So striking was his appearance that two exquisites, emerging from the Savoy Hotel and pausing on the pavement to wait for a vacant taxi, eyed him with pained disapproval as he approached, and then, starting, stared in amazement.

     'Good Lord!' said the first exquisite.

Translations

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

exquisite

1. inflection of exquisit:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Latin

Participle

exqu?s?te

1. vocative masculine singular of exqu?s?tus

References

• exquisite in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

English

Etymology

From un- +? earthly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n????.li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n???.li/

Adjective

unearthly (comparative unearthlier, superlative unearthliest)

1. Not of the earth; non-terrestrial.
   • 2012, Charles Lockwood, Tragedy at Honda, page 65

     In the hard glare of the Searchlight, which had been manned by Seaman 2nd class Evans W. Watkins, the rock had the unearthly look of a miniature satellite in space.

2. Preternatural or supernatural.
3. Strange, enigmatic, or mysterious.
   • 1819 [publ. Sep 1858], James Morton, "The Poetical Remains of the late Dr. John Leyden, with Memoirs of his Life", The Calcutta Review, volume 31, page 25

     I then set out to survey the town in the self-same palankeen. The houses had all of them an unearthly appearance, by no means consonant to our ideas of Oriental splendor.

4. Ideal beyond the mundane.
   • 2000, Aileen Ribeiro, The Gallery of Fashion, page 42

     By the late sixteenth century Elizabeth had become the icon-like Virgin Queen of legend, an image created, to a large extent, by her extraordinary, unearthly costume and appearance.

5. Ridiculous, ludicrous, or outrageous.
   • 1927, The Walther League Messenger, volume 36, page 225

     I see my boys all wearing the same unearthly trousers, the same hair cuts, garish ties and sweaters, all rolling their socks and entertaining the same crazy notions about everything.

Translations