Crossword clues for gracefulness
gracefulness
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Graceful \Grace"ful\, a. Displaying grace or beauty in form or action; elegant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech.
High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode.
--Dryden.
-- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.
Wiktionary
n. The state of being graceful.
WordNet
n. beautiful carriage [ant: awkwardness]
Wikipedia
Gracefulness, or being graceful, is the physical characteristic of displaying "pretty agility", in the form of elegant movement, poise, or balance. The etymological root of grace is the Latin word gratia from gratus, meaning pleasing. Gracefulness has been described by reference to its being aesthetically pleasing. For example, Edmund Burke wrote:
The difficulty in defining exactly what constitutes gracefulness is described in this analysis of Henri Bergson's use of the term:
Gracefulness is often referenced by simile, with people often being described as being "as graceful as a swan", or "as graceful as a ballerina". The concept of gracefulness is applied both to movement, and to inanimate objects. For example, certain trees are commonly referred to as being "graceful", such as the Betula albosinensis, Prunus × yedoensis (Yoshino cherry), and Areca catechu (betel-nut palm).
Gracefulness is sometimes confused with gracility, or slenderness, although the latter word is derived from a different root, the Latin adjective gracilis ( masculine or feminine), or gracile ( neuter) which in either form means slender, and when transferred for example to discourse, takes the sense of "without ornament", "simple", or various similar connotations. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary remarks of gracility, for example: Recently misused (through association with grace) for Gracefully slender. This misuse is unfortunate at least, because the terms gracile and grace are completely unrelated: the etymological root of grace is the Latin word gratia from gratus, meaning pleasing and nothing to do with slenderness or thinness.
Usage examples of "gracefulness".
Finally he managed to stay on, and the lightness of the McClellan saddle must have pleased the pinto after the heavy Texas saddles, for when he felt the man securely on his back he began to move with a new gracefulness, and for the first time in his life Bufe Coker understood what a horse could be.
She came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command the respect of any lunatic, for easiness is one of the qualities mad people most respect.
Our supper was delicious, and my Tonine charmed me with the gracefulness of her carriage.
Their eyes and trailing manes glowed lambent in the simulated starlight, and their movements had the aching gracefulness of swans taking flight.
Finally he managed to stay on, and the lightness of the McClellan saddle must have pleased the pinto after the heavy Texas saddles, for when he felt the man securely on his back he began to move with a new gracefulness, and for the first time in his life Bufe Coker understood what a horse could be.
Somehow, Her Gracefulness had simply for gotten about it when His Majesty's Government came around requisitioning motorcars.