beauty

The word “beauty” means the quality of being pleasing to look at or otherwise highly attractive. In plain terms, the quality of being lovely to look at, or a person/thing that has that quality.

“Beauty” is pronounced BYOO-tee (/ˈbjuti/ in IPA).

Here is “beauty” used in a sentence: “Tourists come from all over to see the beauty of the coastline.”

Words with a similar meaning to “beauty” include gorgeousness, inspiration, loveliness, looker, good looker and beautiful person.

The opposite of “beauty” — its antonyms — are repulsiveness, homeliness and ugliness.

“Beauty” is a noun.

The word “beauty” comes from Latin.

“Beauty” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A2 level.

Beauty is the noun — the quality itself, as in 'the beauty of the coast.' Beautiful is the adjective that describes something possessing that quality, as in 'a beautiful coast.' You admire beauty (the thing) and call an object beautiful (its description). Same idea, different grammatical roles.

Beauty is largely considered subjective — 'in the eye of the beholder' — since tastes vary by person, culture, and era. That said, some features such as symmetry and harmony are found attractive across many societies, so there is a shared element beneath much personal preference.

Not precisely. Because beauty depends heavily on personal and cultural judgment, there is no reliable unit for it. Researchers sometimes study proxies like facial symmetry or proportion, and ratings can be averaged, but these capture only part of what people actually find beautiful. Much of it stays subjective.

The direct opposite of beauty is ugliness — the quality of being unpleasant or unattractive to look at. Softer contrasts include plainness or ordinariness, which suggest a simple lack of striking attractiveness rather than something actively displeasing, while ugliness implies a genuinely off-putting appearance.