BEAUTY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does beauty mean? 

• BEAUTY (noun)
  The noun BEAUTY has 3 senses:

1. the qualities that give pleasure to the senses

2. a very attractive or seductive looking woman

3. an outstanding example of its kind

  Familiarity information: BEAUTY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEAUTY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The qualities that give pleasure to the senses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("beauty" is a kind of...):

appearance; visual aspect (outward or visible aspect of a person or thing)

Attribute:

beautiful (delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration)

ugly (displeasing to the senses)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "beauty"):

raw beauty (beauty that is stark and powerfully impressive)

glory; resplendence; resplendency (brilliant radiant beauty)

exquisiteness (extreme beauty of a delicate sort)

picturesqueness (visually vivid and pleasing)

pulchritude (physical beauty (especially of a woman))

glamor; glamour (alluring beauty or charm (often with sex-appeal))

beauteousness; comeliness; fairness; loveliness (the quality of being good looking and attractive)

cuteness; prettiness (the quality of being appealing in a delicate or graceful way (of a girl or young woman))

good looks; handsomeness (the quality of having regular well-defined features (especially of a man))

attractiveness (sexual allure)

Antonym:

ugliness (qualities of appearance that do not give pleasure to the senses)

Derivation:

beauteous ((poetic) beautiful, especially to the sight)

beautician (someone who works in a beauty parlor)

beautify (make more beautiful)

beautify (make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.)

beautify (be beautiful to look at)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A very attractive or seductive looking woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

beauty; dish; knockout; looker; lulu; mantrap; peach; ravisher; smasher; stunner; sweetheart

Hypernyms ("beauty" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Sense 3

Meaning:

An outstanding example of its kind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

beaut; beauty

Context example:

when I make a mistake it's a beaut

Hypernyms ("beauty" is a kind of...):

example; exemplar; good example; model (something to be imitated)

 Context examples 

I repair to the enchanted house, where there are lights, chattering, music, flowers, officers (I am sorry to see), and the eldest Miss Larkins, a blaze of beauty.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Beauty Smith blinked in the lamplight and looked about him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of beauty of every kind.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He is older than Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of great personal beauty.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"And here's where beauty and utility fall out," was her reply.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I must say that I was fascinated by the perfect lines of Wolf Larsen’s figure, and by what I may term the terrible beauty of it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

What was their beauty to me in a few weeks?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Since landing from the boat he has obtained some consolation from the beauty and variety of the insect and bird life around him, for he is absolutely whole-hearted in his devotion to science.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her long, thick hair was her one beauty, but it was usually bundled into a net, to be out of her way.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I certainly have had my share of beauty, but I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)