Meaning & use
beauty
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Meanings
noununcountable
The quality of looking or sounding so pleasing that you enjoy seeing or hearing it.
Grammar: Uncountable: the beauty of the lake. No plural when it means the quality.
Patterns
- the beauty of something
- see the beauty in something
We stopped to admire the beauty of the sunset.
The beauty of the music moved the whole audience.
She has a quiet beauty that people notice slowly.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A person or thing that is very attractive, especially a woman.
Grammar: Countable: a beauty, two beauties. Can sound old-fashioned when used about a person.
Patterns
- a real beauty
- a beauty of a something
She was a beauty in her youth.
The old sailboat is a real beauty.
That classic car is a beauty.
nounsingularfigurative
An especially good or pleasing feature of something, the reason it is worth having.
Grammar: Usually the beauty of it: the beauty of this plan is its simplicity.
Patterns
- the beauty of something is that
The beauty of the recipe is that it takes ten minutes.
The beauty of walking is that it costs nothing.
That's the beauty of living near a library.
noununcountable
Treatment or products meant to improve how someone looks, as in the beauty industry.
Grammar: Often used before another noun: beauty salon, beauty products.
Patterns
- beauty products
- beauty salon
She works in the beauty industry.
He bought some beauty products as a gift.
The beauty salon opens at nine.
Word forms
| plural | beauties |
|---|
Common combinations
- natural beauty
- The park is known for its natural beauty.
- breathtaking beauty
- The valley is a place of breathtaking beauty.
- beauty is in the eye of the beholder
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so we both like different paintings.
- inner beauty
- Her kindness shows her inner beauty.
- beauty sleep
- I need my beauty sleep before the interview.
- beauty contest
- The town stopped holding a beauty contest years ago.
Synonyms and how they differ
- loveliness
- Loveliness is softer and gentler, and suggests charm rather than striking appearance.
- attractiveness
- Attractiveness is more neutral and concerns how much something draws people, while beauty has a stronger, more admiring tone.
- elegance
- Elegance focuses on graceful style and simplicity, not simply looking nice.
- splendor
- Splendor suggests grandeur and richness, so it fits palaces and landscapes more than a quiet face.
Opposites
Word family
- beautiful adjective
- very pleasing to see or hear
- beautifully adverb
- in a very pleasing way
- beautify verb
- to make more beautiful
- beautician noun
- a person who provides beauty treatments
Commonly confused: beauty or beautiful?
beauty vs beautiful
Beautiful is the adjective, while beauty is the noun, so it is incorrect to say 'a very beauty place'.
Practice
The ______ of this app is that anyone can learn to use it in five minutes.
Choose one answer.
After the beginning 'The' and before 'of', a noun is needed, so beauty fits; the other options are adjective, verb and adverb forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “beauty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.