beau idéal

See also: beau ideal

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French beau idéal.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈboʊ aɪˈdiːl/, (or like French) IPA(key): /-i.deɪˈæl/, /-i.diˈæl/

Noun

beau idéal (plural beaux idéals)

  1. Ideal excellence, or an imaginary standard of perfection.
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 312:
      I never knew any debatable point not maintained on both sides by unanswerable arguments; and yet you are angry that he has not thrown every advantage aside to enact your beau-idéal of patriotic excellence.
  2. An emulable eidolon embodying excellence in a particular respect.[1]

Quotations
  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:beau idéal.

References
  1. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary [Eleventh Edition]
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