urbane
English
Etymology
From Middle French urbain (“urban, belonging to a city; also: polite, courteous, elegant, urbane”), from Latin urbānus (“belonging to a city”), with a sense of “having the manners of townspeople” in Classical Latin, from urbs (“city”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ɜːˈbeɪn/
- Rhymes: -eɪn
Adjective
urbane (comparative more urbane, superlative most urbane)
- (of a man) Courteous, polite, refined, and suave.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1:
- The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!
- 1949: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p12
- 2017 September 27, David Browne, "Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91," Rolling Stone
- And with his trademark smoking jackets and pipes – and the silk pajamas he would often wear to work – Hefner became the embodiment of a sexually adventurous yet urbane image and lifestyle, a seeming role model for generations of men.
- He felt deeply drawn to him, and not solely because he was intrigued by the contrast between O’Brien’s urbane manner and his prize-fighter’s physique.
- Antonym: rustic
Related terms
Translations
courteous, polite, refined, suave, and sophisticated
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References
- The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]
Anagrams
German
Adjective
urbane
- inflection of urban:
Italian
Adjective
- (deprecated template usage) Feminine plural of adjective urbano.
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /urˈbaː.ne/, [ʊrˈbäːnɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /urˈba.ne/, [urˈbäːne]
Noun
(deprecated template usage) urbāne
References
- “urbane”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “urbane”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪn
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- English terms with quotations
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms
- Italian adjective forms
- Italian adjective feminine forms
- Italian adjective plural forms
- Latin 3-syllable words
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- Latin noun forms