gracious

English

Alternative forms

• gratious (obsolete)

Etymology

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

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

Derived terms

• graciousness
• graciously

Translations

kind and warmly courteous

• Bulgarian: любезен (bg) (ljubezen)

• Persian: بخشنده‎ (fa) (baxŝanda(e)), مهربان‎ (fa) (mehrabān)

indulgent

• Bulgarian: милостив (bg) (milostiv), снизходителен (bg) (snizhoditelen)
• Ido: indulgema (io)
• Persian: بخشنده‎ (fa) (baxŝanda(e))

• Romanian: indulgent (ro), îngăduitor (ro),
• Swedish: nådig (sv)
• Turkish: merhametli (tr)

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, frustration.

Synonyms

• (expression of surprise): See Thesaurus:wow

---

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/, /ɡraːˈsius/, /ˈɡraːsjus/, /ˈɡraːsjəs/

Adjective

gracious (inflected form 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

References

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