Concinnous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Arranged with careful attention to elegant proportion and harmonious detail
2. Composed in a manner that shows refined skill and tasteful balance
3. Exhibiting sophisticated craftsmanship and pleasing aesthetic harmony in structure

Etymology: "Concinnous" is a learned borrowing from Latin "concinnus," which meant "skillfully put together," "elegant," or "harmonious." The Latin adjective was built on the verb "concinnare," to fit or arrange things neatly, and the root idea is of parts joined so that they suit one another. English writers borrowed the word to describe style and composition, most often prose or verse whose sentences are balanced, polished, and carefully fitted together, rather than physical objects. The term stayed firmly in the vocabulary of literary and rhetorical criticism, where it carries a sense of deliberate craft. A concinnous sentence is one in which the parts are matched in sound and structure, so the reader feels the pattern as well as the sense. Because it is a Latin borrowing rather than an everyday English word, it still signals a formal, educated register.

Synonyms: elegant, harmonious, neat

Antonyms: inelegant, clumsy