gracious

English

Alternative forms

• gratious (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English gracious, from Old French gracieus, from Latin gratiosus, from gratia (“esteem, favor”). See grace. Displaced native Old English hold (“gracious”). Doublet of gracioso and grazioso.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪʃəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

Adjective

gracious (comparative more gracious, superlative most gracious)

1. kind and warmly courteous
2. tactful
3. compassionate
4. indulgent, charming and graceful
5. elegant and with good taste
6. benignant
7. full of grace
8. magnanimous, without arrogance or complaint, benevolently declining to raise controversy or insist on possible prerogatives.

   The actress's gracious acceptance of being named only in the end credits allowed her character's appearance in the episode to remain a surprise.

Derived terms

• graciousness
• graciously

See also

• graceful

Translations

kind and warmly courteous

• Bulgarian: любезен (bg) (ljubezen)
• Finnish: ystävällinen (fi), kohtelias (fi)
• Hungarian: kedves (hu), szíves (hu), jóságos (hu), nyájas (hu), barátságos (hu), szívélyes (hu)

• Latin: cōmis (la)
• Persian: بخشنده‎ (fa) (baxŝanda(e)), مهربان‎ (fa) (mehrabān)
• Polish: miłościwy (pl), łaskawy (pl), dobrotliwy (pl)

tactful — See also translations at tactful

• Hungarian: tapintatos (hu), udvarias (hu)

compassionate — See also translations at compassionate

• Hungarian: könyörületes (hu), irgalmas (hu)

indulgent — See also translations at indulgent

• Bulgarian: милостив (bg) (milostiv), снизходителен (bg) (snizhoditelen)
• Finnish: suopea (fi)
• Hungarian: jóindulatú (hu), jószívű (hu), elnéző (hu), engedékeny (hu)

• Ido: indulgema (io)
• Persian: بخشنده‎ (fa) (baxŝanda(e))
• Romanian: indulgent (ro), îngăduitor (ro),
• Swedish: nådig (sv)
• Turkish: merhametli (tr)

elegant and with good taste — See also translations at elegant

• Hungarian: bájos (hu), kecses (hu), tetszetős (hu), előkelő (hu), elragadó (hu)

benignant — See also translations at benignant

• Hungarian: kegyelmes, kegyes (hu), jóakaratú (hu), jóindulatú (hu), nagylelkű (hu)

full of grace

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norman: ^{(please verify)} grâcieux (Jersey)

Interjection

gracious

1. Expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, or frustration.

Synonyms

• (expression of surprise): See Thesaurus:wow

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• gracyous, gracyows, gracyouse, gracius, gracieux, gratious, gratius

Etymology

From Old French gracious, from Latin grātiōsus. Equivalent to grace +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡraːsiˈuːs/, /ɡraːˈsjuːs/, /ˈɡraːsius/, /ˈɡraːsjus/, /ˈɡraːsjəs/

Adjective

gracious (plural and weak singular graciouse, comparative graciouser, superlative graciousest)

1. kind, gracious, polite
2. forgiving, relenting (used mainly positively)
3. godly, Christian, involving the graciousness of God.
4. lucky, glad; bestowed with good fortune.
5. enjoyable, nice, pleasing.
6. good-looking; pleasing to the eye.
7. obedient, respectworthy
8. (rare) useful, beneficious

Derived terms

• graciously
• graciousnesse

Descendants

• English: gracious
• Scots: gracious
• Yola: graacuse, graashoos

References

• “grāciǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-14.