debonair

English

Alternative forms

• debonaire, debonnaire

Etymology

Old French debonaire, from the phrase de bon aire (“of good stock, noble”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɛbəˈneə(ɹ)/
• (US) enPR: děb-ə-nɛr', IPA^(key): /dɛbəˈnɛɹ/

Adjective

debonair (comparative more debonair, superlative most debonair)

1. (obsolete) Gracious, courteous.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto vi:

     Let be that Ladie debonaire, / Thou recreant knight, and soone thy selfe prepaire / To battell […] .

2. Suave, urbane and sophisticated.
   • 2015 February 12, Jon Ronson, “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life”, in The New York Times‎^[1], ISSN 0362-4331:

     She was a New York City person. Sacco is nervy and sassy and sort of debonair.

3. (especially of men) Charming, confident, and carefully dressed.

Translations

(obsolete) Gracious, courteous

• Russian: обходи́тельный (ru) (obxodítelʹnyj)

Suave, urbane and sophisticated

• Russian: обходи́тельный (ru) (obxodítelʹnyj)

Charming, confident and carefully dressed

• Russian: гала́нтный (ru) (galántnyj)

Noun

debonair

1. (obsolete) Debonaire behaviour; graciousness.
   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume I, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815, page 196:

     But yet, shall my vanity extend only to personals, such as the gracefulness of dress, my debonnaire, and my assurance—Self-taught, self-acquired, these!

Anagrams

• diborane