English Online Dictionary. What means beauty? What does beauty mean?
English
Etymology
From Middle English bewty, bewte, beaute, bealte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beauté (early Old French spelling biauté), from Vulgar Latin *bellitātem (“beauty”), from Latin bellus (“beautiful, fair”); see beau. In this sense, mostly displaced native Old English fæġernes, whence Modern English fairness.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbjuːti/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbjuti/, [-ɾi]
- (Canada) IPA(key): [ˈbju̟ti], [ˈbju̟ːɾi], [ˈb(j)ɪu̯ɾ̥ɪ]
- (Norfolk) IPA(key): /ˈbuːti/
- Homophone: booty (Norfolk)
- Rhymes: -uːti
- Hyphenation: beau‧ty
Noun
beauty (countable and uncountable, plural beauties)
- (uncountable) The quality of being (especially visually) attractive, pleasing, fine or good-looking; comeliness.
- 1988, "… beauty and recollection, like danger, glamour, greed, hunger- everything but disappointment and desire- were concepts belonging to other people.” -Second Son, Robert Ferro
- Someone who is beautiful.
- (in the plural) Those aspects or elements that make someone or something beautiful.
- Something that is particularly good or pleasing.
- An excellent or egregious example of something.
- (with the definite article) The excellence or genius of a scheme or decision.
- (physics, obsolete) A beauty quark (now called bottom quark).
- Beauty treatment; cosmetology.
- (obsolete) Prevailing style or taste; rage; fashion.
- (archaic, in the plural) Beautiful passages or extracts of poetry.
Synonyms
- (property, quality): good-lookingness, gorgeousness, inspiration, loveliness, see Thesaurus:beauty
- (someone who is beautiful): belle, looker, good looker, see Thesaurus:beautiful person or Thesaurus:beautiful woman
- (something pleasing): gem, jewel
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “property, quality”): repulsiveness, homeliness, ugliness
Derived terms
Collocations
Descendants
- → Cebuano: byuti
Translations
See also
- usefulness
Interjection
beauty
- (Canada) Thanks!
- (Canada) Cool!
Adjective
beauty (comparative more beauty, superlative most beauty)
- (Canada) Of high quality, well done.
Verb
beauty (third-person singular simple present beauties, present participle beautying, simple past and past participle beautied)
- (obsolete, transitive) To make beautiful.
Further reading
- “beauty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “beauty”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English beauty.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbjuː.ti/
- Hyphenation: beau‧ty
Noun
beauty f (plural beauty's, diminutive beauty'tje n)
- a beauty, looker, beautiful person
- a beautiful other creature or thing
- human beauty, as the object or goal of cosmetics etc.
Synonyms
- schoonheid
- (beautiful thing only): juweeltje n, prachtexemplaar n