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单词 beauty
释义

beauty


beau·ty

B0142200 (byo͞o′tē)n. pl. beau·ties 1. A quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or color, proportion, authenticity, and originality.2. One that is beautiful, especially a beautiful woman.3. A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling: The beauty of the venture is that we stand to lose nothing.4. An outstanding or conspicuous example: The golf shot was a beauty, stopping a foot from the hole.
[Middle English beaute, from Old French biaute, from Vulgar Latin *bellitās, from Latin bellus, pretty; see deu- in Indo-European roots.]

beauty

(ˈbjuːtɪ) n, pl -ties1. the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind2. a very attractive and well-formed girl or woman3. informal an outstanding example of its kind: the horse is a beauty. 4. informal an advantageous feature: one beauty of the job is the short hours. 5. informal old-fashioned a light-hearted and affectionate term of address: hello, my old beauty!. interjan expression of approval or agreement. Also (Scot, Austral, and NZ): you beauty [C13: from Old French biauté, from biau beautiful; see beau]

beau•ty

(ˈbyu ti)

n., pl. -ties. 1. the quality present in a person or thing that gives intense aesthetic pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind or the senses. 2. a beautiful person, esp. a woman. 3. a beautiful thing, as a work of art. 4. Often, beauties. something that is beautiful in nature or in some natural or artificial environment. 5. a particular advantage: One of the beauties of this plan is its low cost. 6. (often used ironically) something remarkable or excellent: a beauty of a bruise. 7. Physics. the quantum property assigned to a bottom quark. [1225–75; Middle English be(a)ute, bealte < Old French beaute, early Old French beltet < Vulgar Latin *bellitātem, acc. of *bellitās= Latin bell(us) fine + -itās -ity]

Beauty


adonismthe beautification of a person, usually a male.aesthetician, esthetician1. a specialist in aesthetics.
2. a proponent of aestheticism.
aestheticism, estheticismthe doctrine that the principles of beauty are basic and that other principles (the good, the right) are derived from them, applied especially to a late 19th-century movement to bring art into daily life. See also art.aesthetics, estheticsa branch of philosophy dealing with beauty and the beautiful. — aesthetic, n., adj.aesthetical, adj.cosmetologythe art or practice of the beautification of the skin, hair, or nails. — cosmetologist, n.cosmetological, adj.philocalista lover of beauty. — philocaly, n.pulchritudephysical beauty, especially that of women. — pulchritudinous, adj.

Beauty

 

See Also: BEAUTY, DEFINED; FACE; PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

  1. (He was) all beauty, as the sun is all light —Phyllis Bottome
  2. Beautiful and faded like an old opera tune played upon a harpsichord —Amy Lowell
  3. Beautiful and freckled as a tiger lily —O. Henry
  4. Beautiful as a feather in one’s cap —Thomas Carlyle
  5. (He is) beautiful as a law of chemistry —Robert Penn Warren
  6. Beautiful as a motherless fawn —Bruce De Silva
  7. Beautiful as an angel —William Paterson
  8. Beautiful as an icon —Rachel Ingalls
  9. Beautiful as an illusion —Angela Carter
  10. Beautiful as a prince in a fairy story —Mary Lee Settle
  11. Beautiful as a rainbow —John Dryden
  12. Beautiful as a well-handled tool —Stephen Vincent Benét
  13. Beautiful as a woman’s blush and as evanescent too —Letitia Landon
  14. (For he was) beautiful as day —Lord Byron
  15. Beautiful as fire —Ambrose Bierce
  16. Beautiful as honey poured from a jar —People book review
  17. (There was a woman) beautiful as morning —Percy Bysshe Shelley
  18. Beautiful as nature in the spring —O. S. Wondersford
  19. Beautiful as sky and earth —John Greenleaf Whittier
  20. (She was as) beautiful as the devil, and twice as dangerous —Dashiell Hammett
  21. Beautiful as youth —Dollie Radford
  22. Beautiful … like a dream of youth —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  23. Beauty … extraordinary, as if it were painted —Anita Brookner
  24. Beauty in a woman’s face, like sweetness in a woman’s lips, is a matter of taste —M. W. Little
  25. Beauty is as good as ready money —German proverb
  26. Beauty is striking as deformity is striking —Edmund Burke
  27. Beauty, like a lantern’s light, will shine outward from within him —George Garrett
  28. Beauty … like fine cutlery —John Gardner
  29. Donned beauty like a robe —Iris Murdoch
  30. Exquisite as the jam of the gods —Tennessee Williams
  31. Fair as a lily —Diaphenia

    One of the most popular and enduring flower/beauty comparisons.

  32. Fair as any rose —Christina Rossetti
  33. Fair as a star —William Wordsworth
  34. Fair as heaven or freedom won —Algernon Charles Swinburne
  35. Fair as is the rose in May —Geoffrey Chaucer
  36. Fair as marble —Percy Bysshe Shelley
  37. Fairer than the morning star —Oscar Wilde
  38. A fair face without a fair soul is like a glass eye that shines and sees nothing —John Stuart Blackie
  39. Gorgeous as Aladdin’s cave —Eleanor Mercein Kelly
  40. (In the dingy park) her beauty fled as swiftly as the marmalade kitten had leapt from her grasp —William Trevor
  41. Her beauty was as cool as this damp breeze, as the moist softness of her own lips —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  42. He’s as pretty as those long-defunct lover-gods —Charles Simic
  43. (A novel that would be as) lovely as a Persian carpet, and as unreal —Oscar Wilde
  44. Lovely as Spring’s first rose —William Wordsworth
  45. Lovely as the evening moon —Amy Lowell
  46. Outstanding beauty, like outstanding gifts of any kind, tends to get in the way of normal emotional development, and thus of that particular success in life which we call happiness —Milton R. Sapirstein
  47. Pretty as a diamond flush —Alfred Henry Lewis
  48. (Face …) pretty as a greeting card —Donald E. Westlake
  49. Pretty as a new-laid egg —American colloquialism, attributed to Midwest
  50. (There sat Mary) pretty as a rose —Jump Rope Rhyme
  51. Pretty as a spotted pony —American colloquialism, attributed to Southeast
  52. Pretty as a spotted pup —Mary Hood
  53. Pretty as a wax doll —Katherine Mansfield
  54. Pretty as the carved face on a … cameo —Davis Grubb
  55. Pretty like children on their birthdays —Truman Capote
  56. Shed beauty like winter trees —George Garrett
  57. She walks in beauty like the night —Lord Byron

    A timeless and much quoted Byron line. It continues with “Of cloudless nights and starry skies.”

  58. She was lovely as a flower, and, like a flower, she passed away —Richard Le Gallienne
  59. There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire —William Congreve

    In the original manuscript of The Old Bachelor the word ‘something’ was ‘somewhat.’

  60. A thing of beauty is a joy forever —John Keats

    A Keats classic that embodies the rule that when it comes to including or implying ‘like’ or ‘as,’ discretion is best.

Thesaurus
Noun1.beauty - the qualities that give pleasure to the sensesappearance, visual aspect - outward or visible aspect of a person or thingraw beauty - beauty that is stark and powerfully impressiveresplendence, resplendency, glory - brilliant radiant beauty; "the glory of the sunrise"exquisiteness - extreme beauty of a delicate sortpicturesqueness - visually vivid and pleasingpleasingness - an agreeable beauty that gives pleasure or enjoyment; "the liveliness and pleasingness of dark eyes"- T.N. Carverpulchritude - physical beauty (especially of a woman)glamor, glamour - alluring beauty or charm (often with sex-appeal)beauteousness, comeliness, loveliness, fairness - the quality of being good looking and attractivecuteness, 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 allureugliness - qualities of appearance that do not give pleasure to the senses
2.beauty - a very attractive or seductive looking womanbeauty - a very attractive or seductive looking womanlulu, mantrap, knockout, stunner, looker, peach, ravisher, smasher, sweetheart, dishadult female, woman - an adult female person (as opposed to a man); "the woman kept house while the man hunted"
3.beauty - an outstanding example of its kindbeauty - an outstanding example of its kind; "his roses were beauties"; "when I make a mistake it's a beaut"beautexemplar, good example, example, model - something to be imitated; "an exemplar of success"; "a model of clarity"; "he is the very model of a modern major general"

beauty

noun1. attractiveness, appeal, charm, grace, bloom, glamour, fairness, elegance, symmetry (formal or literary), allure, loveliness, prettiness, seductiveness, gorgeousness, pleasantness, handsomeness, pulchritude, winsomeness, comeliness, exquisiteness, seemliness, pleasingness, prepossessingness an area of outstanding natural beauty
attractiveness ugliness, unpleasantness, repulsiveness, unseemliness
2. good-looker, looker (informal, chiefly U.S.), lovely (slang), sensation, dazzler, belle, goddess, Venus, peach (informal), cracker (slang), wow (slang, chiefly U.S.), dolly (slang), knockout (informal), heart-throb, stunner (informal), charmer, smasher (informal), humdinger (slang), glamour puss She is known as a great beauty.3. (Informal) advantage, good, use, benefit, profit, gain, asset, attraction, blessing, good thing, utility, excellence, boon the beauty of such water-based minerals
advantage disadvantage, flaw, detractionQuotations
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever;"
"Its loveliness increases; it will never"
"Pass into nothingness" [John Keats Endymion]
"If you get simple beauty and nought else,"
"You get about the best thing God invents" [Robert Browning Fra Lippo Lippi]
"`Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' - that is all"
"Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know" [John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn]
"The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is" [Nadine Gordimer A Bolter and the Invincible Summer]
"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness" [Leo Tolstoy The Kreutzer Sonata]
"Beauty vanishes; beauty passes" [Walter de la Mare Epitaph]
"Beauty is a precious trace that eternity causes to appear to us and that it takes away from us" [Eugène Ionesco Present Past - Past Present]
"Beauty is the moment of transition, as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms" [Ralph Waldo Emerson The Conduct of Life]
"Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man" [Fedor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov]
"All changed, changed utterly;"
"A terrible beauty is born" [W.B. Yeats Easter 1916]
"Beauty is feared, more than death" [William Carlos Williams Paterson]
"Beauty halts and freezes the melting flux of nature" [Camille Paglia Sexual Personae]
"Beauty is no quality in things themselves. It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them" [David Hume Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary]
"Ask a toad what is beauty ...; he will answer that it is a female with two great round eyes coming out of her little head, a large flat mouth, a yellow belly and a brown back" [Voltaire Philosophical Dictionary]
"I always say beauty is only sin deep" [Saki (H.H. Munro) Reginald]
"Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness" [Stendhal On Love]
"beauty: the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband" [Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary]
"Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?" [George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman]
"Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it" [W.Somerset Maugham Cakes and Ale]
Proverbs
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
"Beauty is only skin deep"

beauty

noun1. A person regarded as physically attractive:belle (used of a woman), lovely, stunner.Slang: babe, doll, hunk (used of a man), knockout, looker, stud (used of a man).2. A special feature or quality that confers superiority:distinction, excellence, merit, perfection, virtue.
Translations
美丽美人美景美的东西

beauty

(ˈbjuːti) plural ˈbeauties noun1. a quality very pleasing to the eye, ear etc. Her beauty is undeniable. 美麗 美丽2. a woman or girl having such a quality. She was a great beauty in her youth. 美人 美人3. something or someone remarkable. His new car is a beauty! 令人驚豔的人或物 美的东西ˈbeautiful adjectivea beautiful woman; Those roses are beautiful. 美麗的 美丽的,悦目的 ˈbeautifully adverb 美好地 美丽地,悦目地,漂亮地,出色地 ˈbeautify (-fai) verb to make beautiful. She beautified the room with flowers. 美化 美化,装饰 beauty queen a girl or woman who is voted the most beautiful in a contest. (選美比賽選出的)選美皇后 选美大赛皇后ˈbeauty salon noun (also American beauty parlor, ~beauty shop) a place where customers have cosmetic treatment. 美容院 美容院beauty spot1. a place of great natural beauty. a famous beauty spot. 美不勝收的名勝 风景胜地2. a mark (often artificial) on the face, intended to emphasize beauty. 美人痣(通常為刻意點上的,以突顯美感) 痣,美人斑(刻意在脸上搽饰的黑斑,以突显美感)

beauty

美景zhCN
  • Health and beauty → 健康与美容

beauty


beauty mark

A small, dark facial mole (or an artificial one, created with cosmetic makeup) that may be considered a mark of attractiveness. I have always wished that I had Marilyn Monroe's beauty mark on my lip.See also: beauty, mark

beauty spot

A small, dark facial mole (or an artificial one, created with cosmetic makeup) that may be considered a mark of attractiveness. I have always wished that I had Marilyn Monroe's beauty spot on my lip.See also: beauty, spot

beauty queen

A woman who has won, or looks as if she could win, a beauty pageant. When that beauty queen walked in, everyone's heads turned.See also: beauty, queen

a thing of beauty is a joy forever

Something beautiful will give pleasure long after it ceases to exist. This phrase is taken from John Keats' poem Endymion. Thoughts of blooming flowers sustain me through the cold winter months. Truly, a thing of beauty is a joy forever.See also: beauty, forever, joy, of, thing

age before beauty

A humorous way to tell someone to go ahead of one, meant as a playful insult. Chuck held the door open for Tim, motioned for him to go ahead, and said, "Age before beauty."See also: age, beauty, before

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

An approximation of beauty will differ greatly between different people. You may not like my new jacket, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think Annabelle's boyfriend is that attractive, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.See also: beauty, beholder, eye, of

beauty is only skin deep

Physical attractiveness does not equate to substance or character. Of course that gorgeous model didn't tip you—beauty is only skin deep, after all.See also: beauty, deep, skin

beauty sleep

Sleep that helps one to look refreshed and attractive. Usually said humorously. Can you guys be quiet down there? I'm trying to get my beauty sleep! You look tired, Joe. What's the matter, didn't get your beauty sleep last night?See also: beauty, sleep

bevy of beauties

A group of physically attractive women. Of course the cool guy with the motorcycle is surrounded by a bevy of beauties.See also: beauty, of

the beauty of (something)

The positive effects of something. A: "I'm finally feeling better after resting for a few days." B: "Well, that's the beauty of sleep."See also: beauty, of

get (one's) beauty sleep

To get sleep that helps one to look refreshed and attractive. Usually said humorously. Can you guys be quiet down there? I'm trying to get my beauty sleep! You look tired, Joe. What's the matter, didn't get your beauty sleep last night?See also: beauty, get, sleep

that's the beauty of (something)

That's the benefit or positive effect of something; that is what's appealing or satisfying about something. A: "I'm feeling a lot better after taking those few days off." B: "Well, that's the beauty of getting the rest that you need." That's the beauty of games like these—you can play them anywhere, anytime, with anyone.See also: beauty, of

not going to win any beauty contests

Not especially beautiful or attractive. Sometimes used as a facetious or sarcastic way of calling someone or something ugly. I know I'm not going to win any beauty contests, but I don't think I'm so ugly that no one would want to be with me. A: "What do you think of their new house?" B: "Well, it isn't going to win any beauty contests, that's for sure."See also: any, beauty, contest, going, not, win

(I've) got to go home and get my beauty sleep

humorous I need to leave so I can go to sleep. "Beauty sleep" is sleep that will presumably help one to look refreshed and attractive. Well, I've got to go home and get my beauty sleep. It was lovely to see you, as always.See also: and, beauty, get, go, home, sleep

age before beauty

a jocular and slightly rude way of encouraging someone to go ahead of oneself; a comical, teasing, and slightly grudging way of indicating that someone else should or can go first. "No, no. Please, you take the next available seat," smiled Tom. "Age before beauty, you know."See also: age, beauty, before

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Prov. Different people have different ideas about what is beautiful. Bob: I can't believe Ted bought that ugly old car. Fred: He loves it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Jill: Have you seen Mary's pictures of her new baby? He looks pretty ugly, to my eyes. Jane: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.See also: beauty, beholder, eye, of

Beauty is only skin-deep.

Prov. A person who looks beautiful may not have a pleasing personality; a person's good looks may not last. Fred: I hope Nancy will go out with me. She's so beautiful! Jane: I hate to disappoint you, but in Nancy's case, beauty is definitely only skin-deep. Don't be so proud of your pretty face. Beauty is only skin-deep.See also: beauty

bevy of beauties

Cliché a group of very attractive women, as found in a beauty contest. A whole bevy of beauties waltzed past the old man, but he didn't even notice.See also: beauty, of

(I've) got to go home and get my beauty sleep.

Fig. a phrase announcing one's need to depart because it is late. (See also (I) have to shove off for other possible variations.) Sue: Leaving so early? John: I've got to go home and get my beauty sleep. Jane: I've got to go home and get my beauty sleep. Fred: Well, you look to me like you've had enough. Jane: Why, thank you.See also: and, beauty, get, go, home, sleep

not going to win any beauty contests

Fig. homely; ugly. Fred isn't going to win any beauty contests, but he's smart and considerate and he does well at his job. This old truck of mine is not going to win any beauty contests, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.See also: any, beauty, contest, going, not, win

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Prov. Beautiful things give pleasure that lasts even longer than the beautiful things themselves. (This is a line from John Keats's poem "Endymion." Also a thing of beauty and a joy forever, used to describe something beautiful in lofty terms, often ironically.) Jill: I don't understand why someone would pay millions of dollars to have some old painting. Jane: Because a thing of beauty is a joy forever.See also: beauty, forever, joy, of, thing

beauty is only skin deep

External attractiveness has no relation to goodness or essential quality. This maxim was first stated by Sir Thomas Overbury in his poem "A Wife" (1613): "All the carnall beauty of my wife is but skin-deep." See also: beauty, deep, skin

that's the beauty of

This is the most satisfactory feature of, as in And our vacations fall at the same time; that's the beauty of working in different law practices . [Mid-1700s] See also: beauty, of

the beauty of

see under that's the beauty of. See also: beauty, of

ˌbeauty is in the ˌeye of the beˈholder

(saying) what one person thinks is beautiful may not seem beautiful to somebody else: Personally I don’t think her husband is very attractive, but they say beauty’s in the eye of the beholder, don’t they? Behold is an old word meaning ‘to see’.See also: beauty, beholder, eye, of

beauty is only skin-ˈdeep

(saying) physical appearance is no guide to a person’s character: My mother always used to say that beauty is only skin-deep. What’s really important is the sort of person you are.See also: beauty

the beauty of something/of doing something

the advantage of something/of doing something: The beauty of a small car is that it makes it so much easier to find a parking space.One of the beauties of living here is that it’s so peaceful.See also: beauty, of, something

get your ˈbeauty sleep

(humorous) go to bed early so that you wake up feeling healthy and looking attractive: Look how late it is! I won’t get my beauty sleep tonight.See also: beauty, get, sleep

beauty sleep

n. sleep; the sleep one requires. (Usually mentioned by nonbeautiful men as a joke.) You really need some beauty sleep. Why don’t you try a week of it and see if that works? See also: beauty, sleep

age before beauty

Defer to the older person. This phrase is traditionally used when inviting another individual to pass through a doorway before one. Eric Partridge described it as a mock courtesy uttered by a young woman to an older man. Currently it is used only ironically or sarcastically. According to an old story, it was said rather snidely by Clare Boothe Luce when ushering Dorothy Parker through a doorway, and Parker replied, “Pearls before swine.” A related cliché is after you, Alphonse—no, after you, Gaston, repeated a number of times (in Britain, after you, Claude—no, after you, Cecil). The American version is based on a comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper, Alphonse and Gaston, which was popular in the early 1900s, and pokes fun at exaggerated politeness.See also: age, beauty, before

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

What one person considers ugly may seem beautiful to another. The idea is very old and was stated in various ways from the sixteenth century on. Shakespeare’s version is close to the modern: “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye” (Love’s Labour’s Lost, 2.1). Possibly the first exact statement of the cliché in print was in Margaret Hungerford’s Molly Bawn (1878).See also: beauty, beholder, eye, of

beauty is (only) skin-deep

A lovely appearance has no relation to more profound good qualities. “All the carnall beauty of my wife is but skin-deep,” wrote Sir Thomas Overbury (ca. 1613). Of course this observation was hardly new, having been made by many ancient poets long before (Virgil wrote, O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori, “O my pretty boy, trust not too much in your looks”). Although only skin deep, observed William Cobbett (Advice to Young Men, 1829), “It [beauty] is very agreeable for all that,” whereas H. H. Munro (Saki) punned “I always say beauty is only sin deep” (Reginald’s Choir Treat, 1904).See also: beauty

thing of beauty (is a joy forever), a

True loveliness (is a lasting quality). The complete thought is a line from John Keats’s great poem, “Endymion” (1818), and continues, “Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.” The thought is hardly original, but the expression caught on. In the twentieth century it began to be shortened and used simply to describe something lovely, often ironically. Eric Partridge mentioned a play on it made by “flappers,” fashionable young women of the post–World War I era: “A thing of beauty is a boy forever.” Today one is apt to say it of, for example, an elaborately decorated cake.See also: beauty, joy, of, thing

Beauty


beauty

[′byüd·ē] (computer science) bottom

Beauty

 

(the beautiful), a category of aesthetics referring to phenomena of the highest aesthetic value. As an aesthetic value, beauty differs from moral and theoretical values (the good and the true) in that it is associated with a certain sensuous form and is addressed to contemplation or the imagination. Perception of the beautiful, unlike that of the utilitarian or useful, is disinterested.

The ancient aesthetic consciousness conceived of beauty as an inherent characteristic of the world, of the universe. The Pythagoreans believed that beauty is the harmony inherent in things and that its source lies in mystically understood quantitative relationships. According to Heraclitus, “the very beautiful arrangement of the world” and “most beautiful harmony” are the result of the unity and struggle of opposites. Regarding the relativity of beauty, Heraclitus remarked: “the most beautiful ape is ugly when compared with the human species” (quoted in Plato, Hippias Major, 289A). According to Socrates, beauty is relative, since “all things are good and beautiful in relation to those purposes for which they are well adapted” (Xenophon, Memorabilia, III, 8, 5). Plato draws a precise distinction between “what is beautiful” and “what is beauty” (Hippias Major, 287E)—that is, between the essence of beauty and its manifestations. He treats the essence of beauty as an eternal, absolute, divine idea, on which the existence of all beautiful phenomena depends (Symposium, 211A-B). Man “beholds the beauty of this world [and] is reminded of true beauty” (Phaedrus, 249D).

Rejecting the theory of Platonic “ideas,” Aristotle proposes that “the beautiful and the existence of the beautiful” must be one (Metaphysics, VII, 6, 1031c). Accordingly, he regards beauty as an objective characteristic of reality itself and as a manifestation of reality’s laws: “the chief forms of the beautiful are order [in space], symmetry, and definiteness” (Metaphysics, XIII, 3, 1078a34). Aristotle associates beauty in living nature with purpose (On the Parts of Animals, 645a).

An objective idealist understanding of beauty is developed in the aesthetic doctrines of Neoplatonism and Christianity. According to Plotinus, beauty in bodies results from association with the higher beauty emanating from the One (Enneads, I, 6, 1-9). Augustine wrote that god had created “fair and varied forms, and bright and soft colors” (Confessions, X, 34). Seeing the ultimate source of beauty in god, Thomas Aquinas considered the prerequisites of beauty to be integrity or completeness, due proportion or harmony, and brilliance (Summa theologiae, 1, quarto 39, art. 8).

Renaissance thinkers were convinced of the objective character of beauty, which L. B. Alberti defined as “strict proportionate harmony among all the parts, united by that to which they belong” (Desiat’ knig o zodchestve[Ten Books on Architecture], vol. 1, Moscow, 1935, p. 178). For Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance theorists and artists, the highest measure of beauty was man, harmoniously and comprehensively developed.

Classicism treated beauty and its evaluation rationalistically and normatively. During the Enlightenment aesthetics emerged as a separate discipline, “the science of the beautiful” (the work of A. Baumgarten). The analysis of beauty by Enlightenment thinkers is associated with their search for harmonious social ties that would overcome the contradictions of modern civilization. Beauty was regarded as a link between reason and feelings, between abstract duty and natural inclinations, as “freedom in phenomena” (F. von Schiller), and as the unity of the true and the ideal in art (D. Diderot, G. E. Lessing). Diderot, believing that “the perception of relationships is the basis of the beautiful,” distinguished between “real beauty” and “the beauty that we perceive,” or “relative beauty” (Izbr. proizv., Moscow, 1951, pp. 382, 378).

British sensationalistic aestheticians of the 18th century made detailed studies of the psychology of the perception and experience of beauty (F. Hutcheson, H. Home, and E. Burke). The absolutization of the subjective aspect of beauty led D. Hume and I. Kant to an idealist denial of its objectivity. According to Kant, the “aesthetic quality” is “that which, in one’s conception of an object, is purely subjective” (Soch., vol. 5, Moscow, 1966, p. 188), and “the judgment of taste is not a judgment of cognition” (ibid., p. 210). An object may be considered beautiful if one’s attitude toward it is disinterested, if it is represented without concepts as an object of universal “necessary satisfaction,” and if it is perceived as possessing “the form of purposiveness,” “without any representation of a purpose” (ibid, pp. 245, 240).

In his study of beauty, Hegel rejects the Kantian “erroneous idea of the existence of a firm opposition between subjective thinking and objective objects” (Soch., vol. 12, Moscow, 1938, p. 61). For Hegel, beauty is objectively “the sensible manifestation of the idea” (ibid., p. 115). Inasmuch as an idea is manifested only in a disorderly way in nature, beauty in nature is imperfect. Only art, according to Hegel, is capable of realizing the complete agreement between idea and image that is necessary for true beauty. In art, beauty itself is the ideal. The most valuable achievement of Hegelian aesthetics is the dialectical approach to the study of beauty and an understanding of the historical development of beauty, even if only on an objective idealist basis.

Materialist aesthetics of the 18th and 19th centuries endeavored to demonstrate the objective character of beauty, which was considered a property, quality, or relationship of material reality. For instance, in A Philosophical Inquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful, the British philosopher E. Burke wrote: “By beauty I mean, that quality or those qualities in bodies by which they [the bodies] cause love or some passion similar to it.”

Attacking Burke’s simplified treatment of the objective character of beauty, N. G. Chernyshevskii criticized the British philosopher for defining “the beautiful and sublime as qualities of the very bodies that produce such impressions on us” (Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 2, 1949, p. 136). According to Chernyshevskii, “beauty is life” and “that being is beautiful in which we see life as it ought to be, according to our conceptions” (ibid., p. 10).

In bourgeois aesthetics of the late 19th and 20th centuries, the problem of beauty is viewed from an idealist standpoint. According to the subjective idealist theory of empathy (F. T. Vischer, T. Lipps, and Vernon Lee), beauty is the projection of human feelings onto an object. The American philosopher G. Santayana wrote: “Beauty is pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing” (The Sense of Beauty, New York, 1955, p. 51). For B. Croce, beauty is “successful expression” (Estetika kak nauka o vyra-zhenii i kak obshchaia lingvistika [Aesthetics as Science of Expression and General Linguistic], part 1, Moscow, 1920, p. 106). In the aesthetics of pragmatism, beauty is treated as a quality of “experience,” in its idealist sense. J. Dewey (USA) reduces beauty to a term “denoting a characteristic emotion” (Art as Experience, New York, 1934, p. 129). A number of ideas in bourgeois aesthetics erase the boundaries between beauty and ugliness.

Marxist aesthetics discovered a regular link between beauty and human labor, on the basis of which the human aesthetic attitude toward the world had developed. K. Marx observed that “man also shapes matter according to the laws of beauty,” inasmuch as man asserts his sociohuman essence in his practical building of the objective world and, in contrast to the animals, “produces universally, … being free of physical necessity.” Man “freely stands apart from his own product,” knows how to produce on any scale, and can always apply the scale appropriate to the object (K. Marx and F. Engels, Iz rannikh proizv., 1956, p. 566). The diverse phenomena of nature and society possess the quality of beauty to the degree to which they emerge, in their concretely sensuous integrity, as a sociohuman value, attesting to the assertion of man in the real world and objectively embodying the free development of man and society. Therefore, the perception and experience of beauty evoke disinterested love, a feeling of joy, and a sense of freedom.

Certain patterns or principles characteristic of the external appearance of phenomena (regularity, symmetry, harmony, rhythm, proportion, and gradations of sound or of tone and color) have acquired aesthetic significance, because by becoming acquainted with them and using them, man asserts himself materially and spiritually in the world. Human labor possesses the quality of beauty, as a free, creative, socially significant activity that brings satisfaction “through the play of bodily and mental powers” (K. Marx, in K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 23, p. 189). The results of human labor, which bear the “imprint” of great skill and high culture, also possess the quality of beauty. In the products of human work, beauty emerges as a manifestation and, consequently, as evidence of purposefulness and completion. Beauty has both spiritual and practical meaning for man and society. The perception of beauty is disinterested—that is, alien to any vulgar utilitarianism, but not “indifferent.” On the contrary, the experience of beauty is disinterested precisely because personal and social interests are merged in it. Man feels personally involved in the social significance of beauty. Thus, the aesthetic relationship to beauty also has an ethical aspect, corresponding to the unity of aesthetic and moral values.

Beauty in art (the artistic value of beauty) depends on a truthful reflection of life (the beauty of truth), the expression of humanistic ideals, and mastery, which creates form that corresponds harmoniously to content.

As a value expressing the objective aesthetic significance of phenomena, beauty is perceived through subjective aesthetic evaluations, through the prism of human tastes and ideals. An extremely important task of aesthetic education is the formation and development of man’s ability to apprehend the true value of beauty.

In Soviet literature on aesthetics, the problem of beauty has given rise to a debate centering on the correlation between objective and subjective beauty and between natural and social beauty.

REFERENCES

Vanslov, V. V. Problema prekrasnogo. Moscow, 1957.
Dmitrieva, N. A. O prekrasnom. Moscow, 1960.
Esteticheskoe: Sb. st. Moscow, 1964.
Kriukovskii, N. Logika krasoty.[Minsk, 1965.]
Losev, A. F., and V. P. Shestakov. Istoriia esteticheskikh kategorii.[Moscow] 1965.
Priroda i funktsii esteticheskogo. [Moscow] 1968.
Borev, Iu. Estetika. Moscow, 1969.
Stolovich, L. N. Kategoriia prekrasnogo i obshchestvennyi ideal. Moscow, 1969.
Kagan, M. S. Lektsii po marksistsko-leninskoi estetike, 2nd ed. Leningrad, 1971.
Philosophies of Beauty …. Selected and edited by E. F. Carritt. Oxford [1962].

L. N. STOLOVICH

Beauty

beautiful woman married to an enchanted beast who turns into a prince. [Fr. Fairy Tale: “Beauty and the Beast” in Walsh Classical, 49]See: Beauty, Feminine

Beauty

Aglaiaone of the Graces; embodiment of comeliness. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 481]Blodenweddcreated from oak flowers and meadowsweet. [Welsh Lit.: Mabinogion]cowslipsymbol of beauty. [Flower Symbolism: Jobes, 377]Euphrosyneone of the Graces; epitome of beauty in joy. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 481]Gracesthree daughters of Zeus and Eurynome; goddesses of charm and beauty. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 61]hibiscussymbol of beauty. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 174]Hora Quirinigoddess of loveliness. [Rom. Myth.: Kravitz, 44]lilies of the fieldmore splendidly attired than Solomon. [N.T.: Matthew 6:28–29; Luke 12:27–31]Monday’s childfair of face. [Nurs. Rhyme: Opie, 309]peribeautiful fairylike creatures, guided way to heaven. [Pers. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 822]Thaliaone of the Graces; bestowed charm on others. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 481]Ugly Ducklingscorned as unsightly, grows to be graceful swan. [Dan. Fairy Tale: Andersen’s Fairy Tales]white camelliasymbol of beauty. [Flower Symbolism: Jobes, 281]

beauty


  • noun

Synonyms for beauty

noun attractiveness

Synonyms

  • attractiveness
  • appeal
  • charm
  • grace
  • bloom
  • glamour
  • fairness
  • elegance
  • symmetry
  • allure
  • loveliness
  • prettiness
  • seductiveness
  • gorgeousness
  • pleasantness
  • handsomeness
  • pulchritude
  • winsomeness
  • comeliness
  • exquisiteness
  • seemliness
  • pleasingness
  • prepossessingness

Antonyms

  • ugliness
  • unpleasantness
  • repulsiveness
  • unseemliness

noun good-looker

Synonyms

  • good-looker
  • looker
  • lovely
  • sensation
  • dazzler
  • belle
  • goddess
  • Venus
  • peach
  • cracker
  • wow
  • dolly
  • knockout
  • heart-throb
  • stunner
  • charmer
  • smasher
  • humdinger
  • glamour puss

noun advantage

Synonyms

  • advantage
  • good
  • use
  • benefit
  • profit
  • gain
  • asset
  • attraction
  • blessing
  • good thing
  • utility
  • excellence
  • boon

Antonyms

  • disadvantage
  • flaw
  • detraction

Synonyms for beauty

noun a person regarded as physically attractive

Synonyms

  • belle
  • lovely
  • stunner
  • babe
  • doll
  • hunk
  • knockout
  • looker
  • stud

noun a special feature or quality that confers superiority

Synonyms

  • distinction
  • excellence
  • merit
  • perfection
  • virtue

Synonyms for beauty

noun the qualities that give pleasure to the senses

Related Words

  • appearance
  • visual aspect
  • raw beauty
  • resplendence
  • resplendency
  • glory
  • exquisiteness
  • picturesqueness
  • pleasingness
  • pulchritude
  • glamor
  • glamour
  • beauteousness
  • comeliness
  • loveliness
  • fairness
  • cuteness
  • prettiness
  • good looks
  • handsomeness
  • attractiveness

Antonyms

  • ugliness

noun a very attractive or seductive looking woman

Synonyms

  • lulu
  • mantrap
  • knockout
  • stunner
  • looker
  • peach
  • ravisher
  • smasher
  • sweetheart
  • dish

Related Words

  • adult female
  • woman

noun an outstanding example of its kind

Synonyms

  • beaut

Related Words

  • exemplar
  • good example
  • example
  • model
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