AESTHETIC

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does aesthetic mean? 

• AESTHETIC (noun)
  The noun AESTHETIC has 1 sense:

1. (philosophy) a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful

  Familiarity information: AESTHETIC used as a noun is very rare.

• AESTHETIC (adjective)
  The adjective AESTHETIC has 3 senses:

1. relating to or dealing with the subject of aesthetics

2. concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste

3. aesthetically pleasing

  Familiarity information: AESTHETIC used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AESTHETIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(philosophy) a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

aesthetic; esthetic

Context example:

he despised the esthetic of minimalism

Hypernyms ("aesthetic" is a kind of...):

philosophical doctrine; philosophical theory (a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy)

Domain category:

philosophy (the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics)

Derivation:

aesthetic (concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste)

aesthetic (relating to or dealing with the subject of aesthetics)

• AESTHETIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or dealing with the subject of aesthetics

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

aesthetic; esthetic

Context example:

aesthetic values

Pertainym:

aesthetics ((art) the branch of philosophy dealing with beauty and taste (emphasizing the evaluative criteria that are applied to art))

Derivation:

aesthetic ((philosophy) a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste

Synonyms:

aesthetic; aesthetical; esthetic; esthetical

Context example:

the illustrations made the book an aesthetic success

Similar:

artistic (satisfying aesthetic standards and sensibilities)

cosmetic; enhancive (serving an aesthetic purpose in beautifying the body)

painterly (having qualities unique to the art of painting)

sensuous (taking delight in beauty)

Antonym:

inaesthetic (violating aesthetic canons or requirements; deficient in tastefulness or beauty)

Derivation:

aesthetic ((philosophy) a philosophical theory as to what is beautiful)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Aesthetically pleasing

Synonyms:

aesthetic; artistic; esthetic

Context example:

an artistic flower arrangement

Similar:

tasteful (having or showing or conforming to good taste)

 Context examples 

Their exotic aesthetic renders cheetah very valuable.

(Around 7,100 cheetahs remain, say experts, Wikinews)

One who uses imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value.

(Artist, NCI Thesaurus)

You detest the crowd so. Surely there is nothing in the canaille to recommend it to your aesthetic soul.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Oh, I mean the real interpretative biology, from the ground up, from the laboratory and the test-tube and the vitalized inorganic right on up to the widest aesthetic and sociological generalizations.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She read to him much from "The Princess," and often he saw her eyes swimming with tears, so finely was her aesthetic nature strung.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He was feasting his love of beauty at this table where eating was an aesthetic function.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)