aquiline

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Aquiline, hooked, Roman, and curved all describe noses that bend downward, but they differ in tone and precision. Aquiline is the most formal and literary, coming from the Latin word for eagle and carrying a sense of nobility. Roman is its closest everyday equivalent — more casual but still suggests classical strength. Hooked is the most direct and versatile; it simply names the shape without any literary association and can describe anything from a nose to a claw. Curved is the mildest of the four — it notes the shape but is too general to be a true synonym without context. If you say 'She had a hooked nose,' you give a plain physical description; 'She had an aquiline nose' suggests dignity and perhaps a striking, memorable face.

Common collocations

Etymology

Borrowed in the 16th century from Latin aquilinus ('eagle-like'), which comes from aquila, the Latin word for eagle. The sense describing a hooked nose developed from the comparison between the shape of a person's nose and an eagle's curved beak — a usage that has become the word's dominant meaning in modern English.