adjective
- tastefully fine or luxurious in dress, style, design, etc.: elegant furnishings.
- gracefully refined and dignified, as in tastes, habits, or literary style: an elegant young gentleman; an elegant prosodist.
- graceful in form or movement: an elegant wave of the hand.
- appropriate to refined taste: a man devoted to elegant pursuits.
- excellent; fine; superior: an absolutely elegant wine.
- (of scientific, technical, or mathematical theories, solutions, etc.) gracefully concise and simple; admirably succinct.
adjective
- tasteful in dress, style, or design
- dignified and graceful in appearance, behaviour, etc
- cleverly simple; ingeniousan elegant solution to a problem
late 15c., from Middle French élégant (15c.), from Latin elegantem (nominative elegans) “choice, fine, tasteful,” collateral form of present participle of eligere “select with care, choose.” Elegans was originally a term of reproach, “dainty, fastidious;” the notion of “tastefully refined” emerged in classical Latin. Related: Elegantly.