beau idéal
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See also: beau ideal
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from French beau idéal.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
beau idéal (plural beaux idéals)
- Ideal excellence, or an imaginary standard of perfection.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 312:
- I never knew any debatable point not maintained on both sides by unanswerable arguments; and yet you are angry that he has not thrown every advantage aside to enact your beau-idéal of patriotic excellence.
- An emulable eidolon embodying excellence in a particular respect.[1]
Quotations[edit]
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:beau idéal.
References[edit]
- ^ The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]