Beauteous

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈbjuːtɪəs/

Definitions

1. Possessing exceptional physical attractiveness or aesthetic appeal that inspires admiration
2. Characterized by striking visual loveliness and charm that captivates the observer
3. Endowed with remarkable elegance and aesthetic splendor that evokes deep admiration

Etymology: "Beauteous" is a plain piece of English word-building: it is "beauty" with an adjective ending attached. The Middle English forms show the two suffixes it could take, "-ous" and "-eous", both of which mean "full of" or "having the qualities of". Spellings such as "beautevous", "bewteose" and "beuteus" appear in the medieval record, so for a long time writers were uncertain which ending to use. Medieval English settled the matter by borrowing the idea of an adjective ending from French, where "beauté" (beauty) had long been paired with adjective forms of this kind. The result is a word that sounds more formal than "beautiful" largely because its ending is less common in everyday speech, rather than because it carries any special history of its own.

Synonyms: beautiful, lovely

Antonyms: ugly, unattractive