gracious
/ˈɡreɪʃəs
/adjective
1Courteous, kind, and pleasant, especially towards someone of lower social status: a gracious hostess Greig was gracious in defeat...
- A pleasant, courteous and gracious lady, Vera was highly thought of by all in the community.
- A pleasant, courteous and gracious lady, she was well liked by her neighbours in the locality.
- Sean was a pleasant, courteous and gracious neighbour who could always be relied on to lend a helping hand.
Synonyms
courteous, polite, civil, chivalrous, well mannered, decorous, gentlemanly, ladylike, civilized, tactful, diplomatic;
kind, kindly, kind-hearted, warm-hearted, benevolent, considerate, thoughtful, obliging, accommodating, charitable, indulgent, magnanimous, beneficent, benign;
friendly, pleasant, amiable, affable, cordial, hospitable
informal couth
British informal decent
dated mannerly
1.1Showing the elegance and comfort brought by wealth or high social status: gracious living...
- City of grandiose and elegant façades, the gracious arcades of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, here the Milanese mix their cool pragmatism with a love of the good life.
- Their rambling villa once a model of gracious elegance was now a paradise of dry rot and borer, with its skeletal verandah, rickety walls and warped weatherboards.
- Here is a room designed for comfort, yet gracious and formal enough for hosting even the most important parties.
Synonyms
elegant, stylish, tasteful, graceful, comfortable, luxurious, sumptuous, opulent, grand, plush, high-class, exquisite, smart, sophisticated, fashionable, modish, chic
informal swanky
2(In Christian belief) showing divine grace: I am saved by God’s gracious intervention on my behalf...
- Boil it down and that's my calling - to announce the gracious lordship of Jesus Christ.
- The last was the manifestation of true religion - genuinely gracious affections - in Christian practice.
- The Christian principle of gracious forgiveness is, then, a good one, but it is extremely difficult for Christians themselves to observe it.
Synonyms
merciful, forgiving, compassionate, kind, kindly, lenient, clement, pitying, forbearing, humane, mild, soft-hearted, tender-hearted, sympathetic;
patient, humanitarian, liberal, easy-going, permissive, tolerant, indulgent, generous, magnanimous, beneficent, benign, benignant, benevolent
3British A polite epithet used of royalty or their acts: the accession of Her present gracious Majesty...
- My master, who was the most prominent courtier to his most gracious Majesty, the Emperor Kao, may he live ten thousand years.
- Nevertheless, his widow, the gracious Princess Lom was at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club last weekend, to place the Prince's imprimatur on the championship.
- The gracious King Louis XVI signed over one million dollars in arms and munitions.
exclamation
Used to express polite surprise: good gracious, that was close!...
- Well, good gracious me, I was very pleasantly surprised.
- Oh good gracious, was Faith in love too?
Derivatives
graciousness
/ noun ...- It was the elder son, he said, who just could not accept the generosity and graciousness of his father in welcoming back a lost and wayward brother.
- I've occasionally seen him angry, but I must tell you he always treated people with enormous graciousness and friendliness.
- Norm's winning personality, graciousness, and loyal friendship were manifested in many pleasant times and conversations.
Origin
Middle English: via Old French from Latin gratiosus, from gratia 'esteem, favour' (see grace).