Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Graceful |
GracefulAdjective1. Characterized by beauty of movement, style, form etc.; not awkward. 2. Suggesting taste, ease, and wealth. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "graceful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1200. (references) |
Synonyms: GracefulSynonyms: elegant (adj), refined (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: awkward (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Beauty | Adjective: beautiful, beauteous; handsome; gorgeous; pretty; lovely, graceful, elegant, prepossessing; attractive; (inviting); delicate, dainty, refined; fair, personable, comely, seemly; bonny; good-looking; well-favored, well-made, well-formed, well-proportioned; proper, shapely; symmetrical; (regular); harmonious; (color); sightly. |
Elegance | Graceful, easy, readable, fluent, flowing, tripping; unaffected, natural, unlabored; mellifluous; euphonious, euphemism, euphemistic; numerose, rhythmical. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | She also seems Graceful so I'll call her Grace, or Majesty, or Debbie (SpongeBob SquarePants; writing credit: Leonardo Fasoli; Patrizia Fassio) Keeps them thin and graceful. (The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover; writing credit: Peter Greenaway) | |
Lyrics | Graceful swans of never topple to the earth (Thirty-Three; performing artist: The smashing pumpkins) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Graceful ferns adorn coastal forested regions in Oregon. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Graceful Kelp Crab, Pugettia gracilis, commonly found in eelgrass beds and on rocky shorelines from Alaska to Monterey Bay. It is distinguishable by rows of small hooks on the carapace into which it can place bits of algae, eelgrass and other organisms for camouflage. However, it is usually seen without camouflage on the carapace. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR). |
 | Exterior view. Photograph by Jack E. Boucher, 1976. (Reproduction Number: HABS, CONN, 2-FARM,2-8) The First Church of Christ is Connecticut's best surviving example of a colonial-era meeting house. Built in 1771 by Captain Judah Woodruff, who also built many of the houses in Farmington, the church has undergone only minor alterations and still retains its side entrance; graceful, tall steeple; and plain, boxy styling. The church has played an important role in the town since it was built. In 1841, for instance, the African captives from the Spanish slave ship Amistad lived in Farmington and attended the First Church of Christ for several months while awaiting passage back to Africa. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | She had a graceful way of thinking. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Edmund Burke | Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society. |
Henri Frederic Amiel | Women wish to be loved not because they are pretty, or good, or well bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves. |
Louis Nizer | A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults. |
Pindar | A graceful and honorable old age is the childhood of immortality. |
Samuel Taylor Coleridge | How inimitably graceful children are in general before they learn to dance! |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He was genteel, effeminate, graceful, robust, weak, and ferocious |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Political Economy | PHILIPPINES | The Philippines nevertheless failed to make a graceful exit from the arrangement and to draw the last $300 million tranche from that facility, mainly because of worsening fiscal slippages. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TORTOISE, n. A creature thoughtfully created to supply occasion for the following lines by the illustrious Ambat Delaso: TO MY PET TORTOISE My friend, you are not graceful -- not at all; Your gait's between a stagger and a sprawl. Nor are you beautiful: your head's a snake's To look at, and I do not doubt it aches. As to your feet, they'd make an angel weep. 'Tis true you take them in whene'er you sleep. No, you're not pretty, but you have, I own, A certain firmness -- mostly you're [sic] backbone. Firmness and strength (you have a giant's thews) Are virtues that the great know how to use -- I wish that they did not; yet, on the whole, You lack -- excuse my mentioning it -- Soul. So, to be candid, unreserved and true, I'd rather you were I than I were you. Perhaps, however, in a time to be, When Man's extinct, a better world may see Your progeny in power and control, Due to the genesis and growth of Soul. So I salute you as a reptile grand Predestined to regenerate the land. Father of Possibilities, O deign To accept the homage of a dying reign! In the far region of the unforeknown I dream a tortoise upon every throne. I see an Emperor his head withdraw Into his carapace for fear of Law; A King who carries something else than fat, Howe'er acceptably he carries that; A President not strenuously bent On punishment of audible dissent -- Who never shot (it were a vain attack) An armed or unarmed tortoise in the back; Subject and citizens that feel no need To make the March of Mind a wild stampede; All progress slow, contemplative, sedate, And "Take your time" the word, in Church and State. O Tortoise, 'tis a happy, happy dream, My glorious testudinous regime! I wish in Eden you'd brought this about By slouching in and chasing Adam out. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Graceful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.55% of the time. "Graceful" is used about 446 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.55% | 444 | 13,042 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.45% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 446 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "graceful". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Graça | Female | Portuguese | To be graceful |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
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Expressions using "graceful": graceful degradation ♦ graceful doe ♦ graceful transition ♦ graceful woman ♦ with a graceful movement of her hand. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
graceful | 20 |
bee graceful | 15 |
development graceful web | 11 |
graceful chameleon | 8 |
charity graceful | 8 |
graceful services | 7 |
dice graceful | 6 |
graceful horse | 4 |
art graceful | 3 |
graceful butterfly | 2 |
ghost graceful | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "graceful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i këndshëm (agreeable, beauteous, beautiful, delectable, delicious, dreamy, dulcet, entertaining, funny, good, good humoured, good tempered, good-humored, goodly, gracious, grateful, handsome, jocose, jocund, jolly, likable, likeable, lovely, nice, palatable, piquant, pleasant, pretty, Savory, savoury, smooth, soft, sweet, sympathetic), i hirshëm (attractive, charming, delightful, engaging, fancy), i hijshëm (becoming, charming, comely, cool, dainty, decent, decorous, delicate, delicious, distinguished, elegant, jimp, nice, personable). (various references) | |
Arabic | كيس (bag, budget, capsule, courteous, cyst, elegant, encyst, pocket, polite, pouch, sac, sack), حلو الشمائل, جميل (beaut, beauteous, beautiful, comeliness, comely, courtesy, dainty, fair, favor, favour, fine, good looking, grace, gratitude, handsome, kind act, lovely, magnificent, nice, pretty, shapely, sightly, sweet), رؤوف (benignant, clement, gracious, merciful), رشيق (active, agile, airy, alert, brisk, clever, dapper, facile, fleet, fluent, fluid, lightsome, limber, lissom, lissome, lithe, lithesome, lively, merry, nimble, nippy, quick, ready, sharp, spry, svelte, swift, willowy, zippy). (various references) | |
Basque | grazioso. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | грациозен (airy, lightsome, svelte, sylph-like, willowy), елегантен (classy, dashing, debonair, doggy, dressy, elegant, feat, fine, genteel, jimp, mod, nifty, plush, plushy, posh, rakish, saucy, sharp, silk stocking, smart, snappy, stylish, swell, swish, tasty), плавен (easy, flowing, fluent, fluid, light, liquid, tripping). (various references) | |
Chinese | 裊 (delicate), 优美, 嬋 (beautiful), 嬈 (disturbance), 嬝 (delicate), 婀 (unstable, willowy), 婉 (tactful), 婷 , 奕 (abundant), 嫋 (delicate), 優雅 (grace), 優美 (elegant, fine), 娟 (beautiful), 娜 (elegant), 娉 . (various references) | |
Czech | graciézní (fluid), uhlazený (courtly, genteel, mannerly, polite, refined, sleek, slick, urbane), pùvabný (appealing, attractive, charming, comely, dainty, gracious, ingratiating, inviting, lightsome, lovely, pleasing, prepossessing, statuesque, winsome), okouzlující (adorable, alluring, arresting, beguiling, bewitching, charming, enchanting, engaging, enthralling, fascinating, fetching, glamorous, glamourous, prepossessing, ravishing), ladný, labutí, jemný (bland, dainty, delicate, fine, gentle, gracious, light, milky, nice, silken, silky, soft, suave, subtle, superfine, sweet, tender, tenuous, thin, wispy), elegantní (becoming, ciceronian, dapper, dashing, dressy, elegant, fashionable, full-fashioned, glamorous, glamourous, light-some, natty, neat, sleek, smart, snappy, sophisticated, Spruce, swanky, swell, trim), šarmantní. (various references) | |
Danish | kontrolleret forringet funktion (fail softly, graceful degradation), fail-soft (fail softly, graceful degradation), blød overgang (graceful transition). (various references) | |
Dutch | gracieus, bevallig (elegant). (various references) | |
Esperanto | gracia. (various references) | |
Faeroese | yndisligur (charming, lovely), mjáur (slender, slim), klænur (gaunt, lean, slender, slim, thin). (various references) | |
Farsi | پربراز, مطبوع (Dainty, Douce, Exquisite, Fun, Handsome, Lief, Proper, Scrumptious, Sweet, Toothsome), دلپذیر (Amiable, Gracious, Handsome, Kindly, Lief, Lovely, Luscious, Mellow, Melodious, Nice, Palatable, Scrumptious), برازنده . (various references) | |
Finnish | siro (delicate, slender). (various references) | |
French | gracieux (gracious). (various references) | |
German | graziös (charming, gracefully), zierlich (daintily, dainty, delicate, fine, minion, petite, slight, spindly), anmutig (charming, comely, daintily, dainty, gracefully, lovely, pretty). (various references) | |
Greek | που έχει χάρη, χαριτωμένοσ (comely, cute, darling, dinky, lightsome, pretty), εύχαρισ (jaunty). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מלא חן, מעו"ן (delicate, exquisite, refined, subtle), ח י (attractive, comely), רב חן. (various references) | |
Hungarian | kecses (agile, becoming, dainty, fluent, picked, precious, slim). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gandes (charming, elegant), anggun (elegant, grace, handsome, neat). (various references) | |
Italian | grazioso (affable, bonny, charming, dinky, friendly, good-natured, gracious, kind, lovable, lovely, neat, nice, pleasant, pretty, sweet). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 都雅 (sophisticated), 雅びた (elegant), 雅びやか (elegant), 雅びやか (elegant), 雅味 (high class), 秀麗 (beautiful), 端整 (shapely), 淑やか , 楚楚 (neat), 楚々 (neat), 温雅 (affable), 典麗 , 奥床しい (modest, refined), 優しい (affectionate, gentle, kind, tender), 優しい (affectionate, amiable, gentle, kind, suave, tender). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | た"せい (cultivation, diligence, effort, handsome, noble, pains, painting, red and blue, shapely, sigh, sincerity, training, unisexual, working earnestly), おくゆかしい (humble, modest, refined), お"が (affable), がみ (high class), しゅうれい (beautiful, cool autumn weather, week-old), しとやか, そそ (neat), やさしい (affectionate, amiable, easy, gentle, kind, plain, simple, suave, tender), みやびた (elegant), みやびやか (elegant), とが (sophisticated), て"れい (ceremony, courtesy, etiquette, liturgy, seal style and ancient square style). (various references) | |
Korean | 온아한. (various references) | |
Manx | stoamey (curvaceous, dashing, fair, good-looking, gorgeous, large-breasted, personable, shapely, well-formed, well-formed person, well-proportioned), graysoil. (various references) | |
Norwegian | grasiøs. (various references) | |
Occitan | graciós. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | acefulgray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | gracioso (airy, beautiful, benign, canny, comely, dainty, elegant, goodly, gracious, handsome, jimp, lightsome, lovely, seemly, slender, slim, well-turned, willowy, witty). (various references) | |
Romanian | graţios (airily, daintily, flowing, gracefully, light, lightly, neat, sightly, thoroughbred, winning, winsome), suplu (elastic, flexible, flexile, light, lissom, lithe, slender, slim, supple, tractable, willowy, yielding), mlãdios (adaptable, agile, limber, lissom, lithe, supple), fin (beautiful, choice, delicate, delicately, discriminating, excellent, fine, fine-drawn, finely, fine-spun, godchild, godson, gossamer, keen, nice, penetrating, quick, refined, select, sharp, shrewd, slender, soft, spidery, subtile, subtly, tenuous), felin (catlike, cattish, catty, feline), elegant (daintily, dainty, Dandy, dashing, dressy, elegant, fashionable, gallant, genteel, gentle, gracefully, jaunty, polite, smart, smartly, smug, spicy, stylish, swell, tasty, well-dressed). (various references) | |
Russian | грациозный (lightsome, slender), приятный (agreeable, cuddly, cushy, dulcet, enjoyable, grateful, jolly, likable, nice, palatable, peachy, pleasant, pleasurable, prepossessing, pretty, satisfactory, simpatico, soft, sweet-tempered), изящный;постепенный. (various references) | |
Scottish | eireachdail (becoming, handsome, proper), dreachmhor (good looking), d icheil (genteel, handsome). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | milostan, ljubak (charming, cute, ducky), blagonaklon (benevolent, propitious). (various references) | |
Spanish | gracioso (affable, amusing, catching, droll, facetious, friendly, funny, good-natured, gracious, joker, kind), airoso (airy, charming, jaunty). (various references) | |
Swedish | sirlig (ceremonious, dignified, elegant), behaglig (agreeable, attractive, congenial, cushy, delectable, easy, enjoyable, fair, genial, goodly, kind, likable, likeable, lovely, nice, palatable, pleasant, pleasing, Savory, savoury), behagfull (charming, lovely). (various references) | |
Thai | นุ่มนวล (sleek). (various references) | |
Turkish | zarif (canny, classy, clever, courtly, dainty, Dandy, dandyish, dinky, dressy, elegant, go-go, gracious, natty, neat, pretty, pulchritudinous, recherche, sharp, stylish, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy), vakur (staid), ince (attenuate, attic, brittle, civilized, courteous, dainty, delicate, fine, fragile, gracile, gracious, keen, lean, nice, polite, precision, refined, scarious, sharp, slender, slim, subtile, subtle, sylphish, sylphlike, sylphy, tenuous, thin, trickish, tricksy, tricky, urbane, vaporous), ağırbaşlı (austere, calm, demure, dignified, earnest, grand, imperturbable, matronly, only, sage, sedate, serious, sober, sober minded, solemn, staid). (various references) | |
Turkmen | nepis (elegant). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | граціозний (airy, light, lightsome, sylphlike), елегантний (becoming, chic, debonair, delicate, elegant, genteel, nice, nifty, primp, silk stocking, smirk, spiffed, swagger, swell, well-tailored), при"мний (acceptable, agreeable, amiable, balmy, beautiful, boon, canny, clean-cut, complimentary, couth, cozy, cushy, delectable, dulcet, easy, enjoyable, glad, good, goodly, grateful, jocund, kindly, lepid, nice, nutty, palatable, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, prepossessing, pretty, redolent, satisfactory, tasty, welcome, yummy). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | yêu kiều phong nhã, thanh nhã (delicate, polished, smart), duyên dáng (airy, charming, comely, ingratiatingly, personable, smart, well-favoured, well-looking), có duyên (bonny, lovely). (various references) | |
Welsh | gosgeiddig (comely). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | decens, decorus. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | gentil. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "graceful": gracefuller, gracefullest, gracefully, gracefulness, gracefulnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "graceful": disgraceful, ungraceful. (additional references) | |
Words containing "graceful": disgracefully, disgracefulness, disgracefulnesses, ungracefully. (additional references) | |
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"Graceful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dressful, garefowl, gracefull, gracefuly, grapeful, Greyskull, Princeful, rageful. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "graceful" (pronounced grā"sful) |
| 7 | g r ā" s f u l | disgraceful. |
| 4 | -s f u l | blissful, forceful, houseful, stressful, successful, suspenseful, peaceful, purposeful, remorseful, resourceful, unsuccessful, useful. |
| 3 | -f u l | apocryphal, artful, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, boastful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, deceitful, delightful, disdainful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doleful, doubtful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, eventful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fateful, fearful, fistful, fitful, flavorful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, gainful, gleeful, grateful, harmful, hateful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, hurtful, sorrowful, soulful, spiteful, stifle, tactful, tasteful, tearful, thankful, insightful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, lustful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mistrustful, mournful, muffle, needful, neglectful, painful, panful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, raffle, regretful, resentful, reshuffle, respectful, restful, riffle, rifle, rightful, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, thoughtful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, uneventful, unfaithful, ungrateful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, untruthful, vengeful, waffle, wasteful, watchful, willful, wishful, wistful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful, zestful. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-f-g-l-r-u" | |
-1 letter: cageful, careful. | |
-2 letters: carful, earful, fecula, ferula, frugal, fulcra. | |
-3 letters: argle, argue, auger, cager, carle, clear, cruel, facer, farce, farle, fecal, feral, feuar, flare, fugal, fugle, glace, glare, gluer, grace, gruel, gular, lacer, lager, large, lucre, luger, regal, rugae, rugal, ulcer, ureal. | |
-4 letters: acre, ager, ague, alec, alef, cafe, cage, calf, care, carl, caul. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-f-g-l-r-u" | |
+2 letters: gracefully, ungraceful. | |
+3 letters: centrifugal, disgraceful, gracefuller. | |
+4 letters: centrifugals, gracefullest, gracefulness, sprachgefuhl, ungracefully. | |
+5 letters: centrifugally, disgracefully, sprachgefuhls. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Names: Derived from | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
