elegant
/ˈelɪɡənt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈelɪɡənt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈe-li-gənt/ (ame, mw)
elegant — adjective
- elegantpositive
- more elegantcomparative
- most elegantsuperlative
1. having a graceful, well-proportioned quality in how someone or something looks,
having a graceful, well-proportioned quality in how someone or something looks, moves, or behaves, so that the overall effect feels pleasing and carefully chosen.
Hugo looked elegant in his dark suit and polished leather shoes.
collocation: elegant suit
The hotel dining room had an elegant design with tall windows and candles.
Padma wrote an elegant thank-you note to her grandmother after the gift arrived.
The ballet dancer's movements were so elegant that the audience sat in complete silence.
Gabriela chose an elegant silver necklace to wear at her sister's wedding.
- graceful
focuses more on smooth, flowing movement than on overall style
- refined
emphasises cultivated taste and politeness rather than visual beauty
- stylish
stresses current fashion and trendiness; less formal than elegant
- sophisticated
implies worldly experience and complex taste; broader than visual appearance
文法句型
elegant + noun
be + elegant
look/feel/find + elegant
用法筆記
Frequently collocates with clothing (elegant suit, elegant dress), architecture (elegant building, elegant room), personal style (elegant manners, elegant writing), and natural or artistic movements (elegant walk, elegant dance).
常見錯誤
2. describing a theory, plan, or method that is both impressively simple and clever
describing a theory, plan, or method that is both impressively simple and cleverly effective — achieving its purpose with no unnecessary steps or parts.
The engineer proposed an elegant solution using just one small motor instead of ten.
elegant solution — common academic collocation
Cyrus found an elegant way to sort the files by color on the computer.
The professor described the proof as elegant because it kept to a few clear steps.
Lan's recipe was elegant in its simplicity — only four basic ingredients.
Nia designed an elegant booking system that reduced wait times by half.
- clumsy
awkward or poorly designed, lacking elegance in execution
- complicated
needlessly complex, the opposite of simple and clean
文法句型
elegant + solution/plan/theory/method
elegant in + possessive + simplicity/design
用法筆記
Used almost exclusively for abstract things — solutions, proofs, methods, theories, designs. Never used for people, places, or concrete objects in this sense (use sense 1 GRACEFUL & STYLISH instead). Distinguish from sense 1 by whether the praise is about visual grace or about intellectual neatness.