STYLE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does style mean? 

• STYLE (noun)
  The noun STYLE has 9 senses:

1. how something is done or how it happens

2. a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period

3. a particular kind (as to appearance)

4. the popular taste at a given time

5. (botany) the narrow elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma

6. editorial directions to be followed in spelling and punctuation and capitalization and typographical display

7. distinctive and stylish elegance

8. a pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving

9. a slender bristlelike or tubular process

  Familiarity information: STYLE used as a noun is familiar.

• STYLE (verb)
  The verb STYLE has 3 senses:

1. designate by an identifying term

2. make consistent with a certain fashion or style

3. make consistent with certain rules of style

  Familiarity information: STYLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STYLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

How something is done or how it happens

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

fashion; manner; mode; style; way

Context example:

in an abrasive fashion

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

property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "style"):

artistic style; idiom (the style of a particular artist or school or movement)

drape (the manner in which fabric hangs or falls)

fit (the manner in which something fits)

form (a particular mode in which something is manifested)

life-style; life style; lifestyle; modus vivendi (a manner of living that reflects the person's values and attitudes)

setup (the way something is organized or arranged)

signature; touch (a distinguishing style)

wise (a way of doing or being)

response (the manner in which an electrical or mechanical device responds to an input signal or a range of input signals)

Derivation:

stylist (someone who cuts or beautifies hair)

stylize (represent according to a conventional style)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

expressive style; style

Context example:

all the reporters were expected to adopt the style of the newspaper

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

communication (something that is communicated by or to or between people or groups)

Domain category:

music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)

language; linguistic communication (a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols)

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "style"):

headlinese (using the abbreviated style of headline writers)

officialese (the style of writing characteristic of some government officials: formal and obscure)

pathos (a style that has the power to evoke feelings)

prose (matter of fact, commonplace, or dull expression)

genre; music genre; musical genre; musical style (an expressive style of music)

rhetoric (using language effectively to please or persuade)

coarseness; saltiness (language or humor that is down-to-earth)

self-expression (the expression of one's individuality (usually through creative activities))

sesquipedality (using long words)

terseness (a neatly short and concise expressive style)

turn of expression; turn of phrase (a distinctive spoken or written expression)

vein (a distinctive style or manner)

verboseness; verbosity (an expressive style that uses excessive or empty words)

genre; literary genre; writing style (a style of expressing yourself in writing)

poetry (any communication resembling poetry in beauty or the evocation of feeling)

legalese (a style that uses the abstruse technical vocabulary of the law)

allegory (an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe some subject by suggestive resemblances; an extended metaphor)

analysis (the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., 'the father of the bride' instead of 'the bride's father')

bathos (triteness or triviality of style)

black humor; black humour (the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing or drama) to give a disturbing effect)

device (something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect)

eloquence; fluency; smoothness (powerful and effective language)

euphuism (any artificially elegant style of language)

flatness (a want of animation or brilliance)

expression; formulation (the style of expressing yourself)

grandiloquence; grandiosity; magniloquence; ornateness; rhetoric (high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation)

jargon (specialized technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject)

journalese (the style in which newspapers are written)

delivery; manner of speaking; speech (your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself orally)

Derivation:

stylist (someone who cuts or beautifies hair)

stylist (an artist who is a master of a particular style)

stylistic (of or relating to style (especially in the use of language))

stylize (represent according to a conventional style)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A particular kind (as to appearance)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

this style of shoe is in demand

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

form; kind; sort; variety (a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality)

Derivation:

style (make consistent with a certain fashion or style)

stylist (someone who cuts or beautifies hair)

stylize (represent according to a conventional style)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The popular taste at a given time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

style; trend; vogue

Context example:

the 1920s had a style of their own

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

appreciation; discernment; perceptiveness; taste (delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "style"):

New Look (a style of women's clothing created by Christian Dior in 1947; involved a tight bodice and narrow waist and a flowing pleated skirt)

bandwagon (a popular trend that attracts growing support)

fashion (the latest and most admired style in clothes and cosmetics and behavior)

Derivation:

stylist (someone who cuts or beautifies hair)

stylize (represent according to a conventional style)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(botany) the narrow elongated part of the pistil between the ovary and the stigma

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

reproductive structure (the parts of a plant involved in its reproduction)

Meronyms (parts of "style"):

stigma (the apical end of the style where deposited pollen enters the pistil)

Domain category:

botany; phytology (the branch of biology that studies plants)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "style"):

stylopodium (an enlargement at the base of the style in some Umbelliferae)

corn silk; cornsilk (each of the long filamentous styles that grow as a silky tuft at the tip of an ear of Indian corn)

Holonyms ("style" is a part of...):

pistil (the female ovule-bearing part of a flower composed of ovary and style and stigma)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Editorial directions to be followed in spelling and punctuation and capitalization and typographical display

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

direction; instruction (a message describing how something is to be done)

Derivation:

stylistic (of or relating to style (especially in the use of language))

style (make consistent with certain rules of style)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Distinctive and stylish elegance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dash; elan; flair; panache; style

Context example:

he wooed her with the confident dash of a cavalry officer

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

elegance (a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste)

Derivation:

stylistic (of or relating to style (especially in the use of language))

Sense 8

Meaning:

A pointed tool for writing or drawing or engraving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

style; stylus

Context example:

he drew the design on the stencil with a steel stylus

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

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A slender bristlelike or tubular process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Context example:

a cartilaginous style

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

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "style"):

stylet (small needlelike appendage; especially the feeding organ of a tardigrade)

• STYLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they style    ... he / she / it styles   
Past simple: styled   
Past participle: styled   
-ing form: styling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Designate by an identifying term

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

style; title

Context example:

They styled their nation 'The Confederate States'

Hypernyms (to "style" is one way to...):

be known as; call; know as; name (assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make consistent with a certain fashion or style

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

style the dress

Hypernyms (to "style" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Domain category:

fashion (the latest and most admired style in clothes and cosmetics and behavior)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "style"):

pompadour (style women's hair in a pompadour)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They style their hair

Derivation:

style (a particular kind (as to appearance))

styler; stylist (someone who cuts or beautifies hair)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make consistent with certain rules of style

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

style a manuscript

Hypernyms (to "style" is one way to...):

write (communicate or express by writing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

style (editorial directions to be followed in spelling and punctuation and capitalization and typographical display)

 Context examples 

A specific size and style of type within a type family.

(Font, NCI Thesaurus)

One man's style must not be the rule of another's.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

There was something in her style of beauty, to please them particularly.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The ovary is superior, capsicular, and three-styled.

(Hypericum perforatum, NCI Thesaurus)

I would have everything done in the best style, and made as nice as possible.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

"You called them hack-work. You wrote many of them. Didn't they spoil your style?"

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"I could, if I tried." and she looked as if she would like doing it in the most summary style.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It will reflect you—your artistic sense and style—in the very best way.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The father and mother were in the old English style, and the young people in the new.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Wilson is his name, and they call him Crab on account of his style.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)